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1 



THE LADIES' GUIDE 

TO 

HEALTH AND BEAUTY 

CONTAINING 

FULL INFORMATION ON ALL THE MARVELOUS AND COMPLEX 
MATTERS PERTAINING TO WOMEN 

INCLUDING 

CREATIVE SCIENCE ; BEARING, NURSING AND REARING CHILDREN; 

HEREDITARY DESCENT; HINTS ON COURTSHIP AND 

MARRIAGE; PROMOTING HEALTH AND BEAUTY, 

VIGOR OF MIND AND BODY, ETC., ETC. 

TOGETHER WITH THE 

DISEASES PECUUAR TO THE FEMALE SEX 

THEIR CAUSES, SYMPTOMS AND TREATMENT 

THE WHOLE FORMING A 

COMPLETE MEDICAL GUIDE FOR WOMEN 

BY 

MoNFORT B. Allen, M.D. 

AND • . ^ . : r^r -. .. 

Amelia C. McGregor, M.D/ ^ • -' 



Embellished with Many Superb Colored Plates, 
Phototype and Wood Engravings 



Published in 190J., Allen's Guide 
was one of the most widely T^IdToi 
the genre. ^ ^ 



THr LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

'•r^t/o Cociea Recsived 

illL, 10 1902 

rtCOPyHmMT ENTRY 

CLASS '^XXa No. 

2>i- 1 I, -| 

COPY 8. ' 



ENTERED ACCOHOING TO ACT OF CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR 1902, BY 

D. Z. HOWELL 

THE OFFICE OF THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS, AT WASHINGTON, D. C, U. S. A. 



n 



PREFACE. 



WHAT all wives, mothers and maidens should know respecting 
themselves, is fully and clearly stated in this new, very com- 
prehensive and charming volume. It contains the most 
important and valuable information concerning the female organism, 
the physical Hfe of woman, and all subjects in which she is most 
c^eply interested. 

Part I. — Love and Marriage. The love which blossoms into 
marriage and maternity; the wise counsels which should regulate 
courtship and the conjugal state ; and the necessary qualifications 
for married life, are all set forth in a way that both instructs and 
delights the reader. 

How to render marriage and motherhood the sources of the purest 
and deepest happiness known to earth ; the temperaments that should 
unite to form a perfect wedlock ; the harmonious development of the 
whole woman ; manly husbands and devoted wives ; these and kindred 
subjects enrich the pages of this work. 

Part H. — The Reproductive Organs. This part treats of crea- 
tive science. Reproduction is nature's grandest work, yet how little 
understood! Ignorance on such a subject as this is a sin. This 
comprehensive volume pours a flood of light on all the wonderful 
nnd complex matters peculiar to women. 

It answers questions which all mothers and daughters desire to ask 
and furnishes information on a great variety of subjects but little 
understood, which are all important to the health, the happiness and 
the long life of both the married and. the unmarried. 

This work is a self-instructor, replete with knowledge of the female 
anatomy. *'Know thyself" is the old adage, and every woman can 
fulfill the injunction by perusing this volume. It is a faithful friend 
and companion. All that goes before childbirth; all that married 
persons should Cully know and understand, is plainly stated. And 

iii 



iv PREFACE. 

these delicate subjects are treated in such a way that womanly 
mociesty is never oft'ended. 

The marvelous human germ; the growth of the new life; labor 
and confinement; lactation or nursing, are all described, together with 
female complaints and diseases. The kind physician and helper is 
always at hand. Indeed, this volume, packed from lid to lid with 
excellent advice, plain hints and suggestions, and information needed 
every day, may truly be called a life-saver. 

Part III. — Care and Management of Children. A well-known 
vvriter has said, "It is the mother after all that has the most to da 
with the making or marring of the man." What every mother 
should fully understand respecting the child, born of her love and 
committed to her care, is contained in this work and should be read 
in every home throughout the land. Our American girls are growing 
stronger, rounding out into r more perfect physique, and securing 
better health, because their mo.ners are giving them more intelligent 
care in childhood, and our best schools afford them a thorough 
physical education. This work is right in the line of that education 
which aims to make our American youth as strong and vigorous in 
body as they are bright and capable in mind. 

Part IV. — Female Beauty and Accomplishments. This is a 
subject of universal interest. To improve one's personal appearance 
and endow it with new charms might almost be considered a duty. 
More than half of the success in life among both sexes depends upon 
personal appearance and first impressions. Good common sense, 
hygienic rules and suggestions are of the utmost value. Many a 
lady of fashion, pale, sickly, lifeless and miserable, would give all she 
is worth for the rosy bloom on the cheeks of the healthy, happy 
peasant girl. 

Part V. — Politeness; or. Woman in Society. Tasteful and 
becoming dress; deportment and good manners; the art of con- 
versing well; rules of etiquette, and other important subjects are. 
comprised in this part of the volume, the comprehensive and valuable 
character of which is seen at a glance. 



CONTEINITS. 



PART I. 
LOVE AND MARRIAGE. 

CHAPTER I. 

The Qualifications for Married Life. 

tvove, the Source of Happiness or Misery — Woman's Place in Mohammed's Para- 
dise — Maniage an Ordinance of Heaven — Parents Stamp their Characteristics 
on their Children — Nature's Time for Marrying — Well Developed Mind and 
Body — Evil Habits — Self-Government and Discipline — Industry and Thrift — 
Young Ladies and the Fashions — Domestic Duties — Value of Self-Reliance—^ 
Lamentable Ignorance — Hereditary Influence — Marriage Means Parentage- 
Lawful Pride in Fine Offspring 17 

CHAPTER II. 

Advice to the Unmarried, 

Marrying to Please Others— Stigma of " Old Maid," or " Old Bachelor '*— Sound 
Judgment Needed — "Petticoat Government" — Both Parties Should Do the 
Courting — Flirting as a Pastime — Fashion and Domestic Duties — How Romance 
Disappears — Dram-Drinking Husbands — Marrying for Money — Long Court- 
ships — Temperaments that are Too Much Alike — Like Parents, Like Children- 
Prowling Fortune-Hunters — Marrying Out of Your Natural Sphere — Evils of 
Coquettery — Defective Education — Exciting Unhealthy Passions — Harmonious 
Development of the Whole Woman 26 

CHAPTER III. 

Like Begets Like. 

Bffects of Hereditary Disease — Mental or Nervous Organization — Living too Fast- 
Bilious Temperament — Coarse Muscles — Sluggish Brains — The Mental Dwarfed 
by the Physical — Well Balanced People — Perverted Passions — Violation of 
Physical Laws — Society in Upheaval — ^Young Ladies and Their Associates- 
Parental Responsibility — Transmitting Disease and Death — Sins of Parents 
Visited on Their Children — Perfecting the P,ace — The Characteristics of the 

Child Determined by the Parents 37 

V 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IV. 

Love and Parentage. 

Courtship the Mere Alphabet of lyove — Glory of the Wife and Mother — Sharing 
Common Joys and Sorrows — Idolized Children — Perfect lyove and Confidence 
in Marriage — Animal Love and Moral Excellence — Wedlock's Sacred Bonds-- 
Physical and Mental Sexuality — Development of Female Charms — Blushing 
Maids — No Necessity for Female Beauty to Decline — Decay of Health — House- 
hold Drudgery — Bad Diet and Habits— Diminution of Affection in Marriage — 
Uncongenial Mates— Dying Before Your Time i9 

CHAPTER V. 

Important Truths for the Newly Married. 

6elf-Improvement — Promoting Happiness — Conjugal Attentions — Cultivating Love 
— Remedy for Discords — Consecration, Each to the Other — Love's Little 
Indulgences — Wives and Money — Expressing Affection — Love no Longer 
Mentioned — Billing and Cooing — Manly Husbands — Devoted Wives — Animal 
Passion — First Great Business — Cold Indifference — Reasons of Infidelity — 
Highest Human Duty — Contentment Better than Dollars — Paralysis of the 
Affections — Starved Hearts 55 



PART II. 

THE HUMAN PELVIS AND ORGANS OP 
GENERATION. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Structure of the Pelvis. 

Meaning of the Term Pelvis — Natural Form and Dimensions — The Brim — Tne 
Cavity — Position in Regard to the Trunk of the Body — How the Womb is Sup- 
ported — Separation of Bones During Childbirth — Loosening of Ligaments — 
Male and Female Pelvis Compared — Bones of the Male Harder Than in the 
Female — Deformities of the Pelvis — How Distortions are Produced ... 65 

CHAPTER VII. 

Genital Organs of the Female. 

The Mons Veneris— The Labia, or Lips— The Vulva— The Clitoris— ^The Nymphae— . 
Vagina, or Caual Fxtending to the Uterus— The Sphincter—The Hymen and 



CONTENTS. vii 

Its Situation— -Uterus, or Womb— Fallopian Tubes— Mouth of the Uterus-- 
Internal Cavity — Mucous Membrane — Arteries, Veins and Nerves — The Liga- 
ments — Structure of the Ovaries— Ovasacs, or Graafian Vesicles—Vesicles iu 
the Foetus — Nerves of the Ovaries 71 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Menstruation. 

A Subject of Great Importance — Girl and Woman— Evils of Too Early Marriage^* 
Feeble Parents and Feeble Children— Duration of Monthly Period— Period of 
Puberty — Very Young Mothers — Close of the Menstrual Function— Some 
Remarkable Facts— Nature of the Menstrual Discharge— Suppressed by Preg- 
nancy — Effects of Nursing — An Evil Practice — Poverty of Blood — Regularity 
Important — Effects of Dissipation — "Change of Life" — Profuse Discharges- 
Nervous Symptoms — Flushes of Heat — Bleeding at the Nose — Hysteria — ^The 
Blessing of Health . . „ 81 

CHAPTER IX. 

Conception. 

The Seminal Animalcule— Body and Soul — Birth and Genius — Children of all 
Races Resemble their Parents — Each Parent an Agent— Testes and Ovaries— 
Zoosperms or Spermatozoa — How Impregnation Takes Place — Vast Numbers 
of Zoosperms — Egg of the Fowl — Most Favorable Period for Conception — 
How the Generative Act Should be Performed — When Impregnation is Not 
Likely to Take Place — Limiting the Number of Children — Prevention of 
Conception . . . . , ....,..,.♦»...», 95 

CHAPTER X. 

Pregnancy. 

Cessation of Menses — Morning Sickness — Pains in the Breast — Quickening — Flut- 
tering Motions — Flatulence — Increase in Size — Emaciation — Heartburn — Mor- 
bid Longings — Excitability o£ Mind — Suitable Clothing — Ablutions — Air and 
Exercise — Evils of Indolence — Ventilation and Drainage — Horrid Odors — 
Disinfectants — Pain a Warning — Hotbeds of Disease — Pure Water — Benefits 
of Rest — What to Eat — Spices and Condiments — Abuse of Stimulants— Rest' 
lessness and Sleep , . . , 106 

CHAPTER XI. 
The Human Ovum, or Egg. 
Birth of Plants — How Animalcules are Formed — Amazing Number of Eggs in 
.^ishes — Spontaneous G^ueratioa a Myth— Ovaries of the Human Female-* 



viii CONTENTS 

Seminal Fluid of the Male — Reception of the Ovum bj'- the Uterus — ^The 
Germinal Centre — Anatomy of the Testes — Evolution of Spermatozoa — Result 
of Impregnation — "The Turn of Life" — Remarkable Changes at Puberty — 
Woman's Organization Finer than that of Man — Peculiarities and Mission of 
Woman , . . . 12» 

CHAPTER XII. 

Embryology, or Development of the Fcetus. 

Order of Grovrth — Vital Point of the Egg — Ovum Protected by Membranes—* 
Resemblance to the Egg of the Fowl — Rapid Changes of the Germ — Sizes of 
the Ovum at Different Periods — Formation of Bone and Muscle — Growth of 
the Vital Organs — How the Embryo is Nourished — Birth of More than One 
Child — Second Canception — Period of Gestation — Pregnancy Table — Number 
of Days to be Reckoned — From What to Date the Count — Mistakes in Reckon- 
ing— The Sex of the Child— Proportion of Boys to Girls 140 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Parturition, or LaboRc 

First Symptoms of Labov — "Grinding Pains" — Shivering Sensations — Stomach 
Sickness — Bearing Down and Cramps — Labor a Natural Process — Forced 
Assistance Dangerous- -Use of Instruments — Average Time of Labor — The 
After-Pains — Three Stages of Labor — Directions to Nurses — Position of the 
Patient — Costiveness — Use of Chloroform — What If the Doctor Is Absent ? — 
Stillbirths, and How to Treat Them— The Afterbirth— Clothing After Labor- 
Rest and Refreshment — Bandaging — The Sick-room — Attention to the 
Bladder — Treatment for the Bowels — Ignorant Nurses — Quietude and Em- 
ployment 160 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Miscarriage. 

The Young Wife — Miscarriage Can Generally be Prevented — Necessity of Judicious 
Advice — Penalties of Ignorance — Causes of Premature Labor — Violence ol 
Every Kind to be Avoided — Tb'eatening Symptoms—Decided Symptoms- 
Two Stages — Time of Greatest Danger — Flooding Treatment for Miscarriage — 
Great Care Required— Sponge and Shower-baths— Separate T^eeping Apart- 
ments — Healthful Exercise 186 

CHAPTER XV. 

Lactation, or Nursing. 

Maternal Cares and Duties — Nursing a Pleasure to the True Mother — Nursing 
Natural and Healthy— Best Food for the Child — Ailments of the Breasts— Milk- 
F^ver —Gatherings — Care of the Nipples — Outward Applications — Stated Times 



CONTENTS. ix 

for Nursing — Danger of Overfeeding — Clothing for tfie Mother — What the 
Nursing Mother Should Eat — How Food and Drink Affect the Mother — 
Variety of Diet Recommended — Fits of Depression — Evils of Alcoholic Drinks 
—Benefits of Exercise — An Amiable Temper — Keeping Mind and Hands Occu- 
pied — ^Work a Grand Panacea — The Menses During Nursing 194 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Weaning the Child. 

Se^t '^me for "Weaning — Effects of Prolonged Nursing — The Mother's Health to be 
Considered — Knock-kneed and Rickety Children — Weaning Gradually — Appli- 
cations for the Nipples — Aloes and Wormwood — Drying up the Milk — Prepara" 
tions for Reducing Full Breasts — Symptoms Denoting the Necessity of Weaning 
— Delicate Mothers—Return of the Menses — Wet-Nurses — Inflammation and 
How to Treat It — Infectious Diseases — Stimulants to be Avoided .... 212 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Ailments of the Mamm^, or Breasts. 

Small Nipples — Bad Effects of Pressure on the Breasts — Nipple-Shields, and How 
to Use Them— Best Applications — Cracked Nipples — Poor Supply of Milk — 
Applying Friction to the Breasts — Gatherings, and How Treated — Correct 
Position in Nursing — Sources of Inflammation — Sucking an Empty Breast- 
Permanent Injuries — Shivering Fits — Fainting Spells — Mother Not Strong 
Enough for the Child — Aperients During Nursing — Virtues of Brown Bread- 
Practice of Eating Honey and Fruit Jams — Use of Tea and Coffee — Evils of 
Constantly Dosing with Medicine 219 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Diseases Peculiar to Women. 

Chlorosi?, or Green Sickness — Symptoms and Treatment — Suppression of the 
Mense.^ — Promoting the General Health — Fresh Air and Exercise— Pleasant 
Recreation — Profuse Menstruation — Causes and Treatment — Proper Diet — Best 
Tonics — Leucorrhcea, or Whites — Indications of Inflammation — Baths and 
Injections — Location of the Disease — Falling of the Womb — How Caused — 
Remedies— Change of Life — Peculiarities of the Transition — Inflammation of 
the Breasts — Remedies to be Employed — Heartburn, Etc. — Constipation of 
Pregnancy — Toothache During Pregnancy — Varicose Veins— Urinary Difficul- 
ties — Secretion of Milk — Milk Fever — Puerperal Fever . , c . . . . 232 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Pregnancy External to the Womb. 

A. Rare Occurrence — How the Ovum is Nourished — Causes of Such Conception- 
Peculiarities of the Cases — Obscure Symptoms — General Xreatmeiit — Appear^ 



CONTENTS. 

ance of Inflammation— Bursting of the Cyst— Relief tor Pain— Opiates and 
Cordials— Operation for Removal of Foetus— Successful Treatment of thiii 
Peculiar Form of Pregnancy . . . , « , 371 



PART III- 
CARE AND MANAGEMENT OP CHILDREN. 

CHAPTER XX. 

Ablution and Clothing. 

Every Child Should be Its Mother's Care— The Babe a " Well-spring of Pleasure" 
— Directions for Bathing — Prevention of Colds — Skin Eruptions — Free Use of 
Water— Cleanliness and Health— Treatment for Chafings— Bad Effects of 
Soda in the Laundry — Proper Time for Bathing the Infant — The Flannel 
Apron— Clothing — Material for the Belly-band — Light Dressing — Warmth a 
First Requisite — Danger of Convulsions— How Clothes Should be Fastened— 
Keeping the Head Cool— Clothing for Winter 277 

CHAPTER XXI, 

Diet for the Infant. 

Away with Gruel—When the Tongue is Tied— First Food for the Infant— Both 
Breasts to be Drawn Alike — Too Frequent Nursing — Artificial Food — A Simple 
Preparation — Foods of Various Kinds — Baked Flour — Bread Crumbs — Oatmeal 
— Pulp of Rice — Foods Containing Starch-^Arrow- root— New Milk — When to 
Give Farinaceous Food — How Digestion is Aided — Salt and Sugar — Weak 
Mothers — No Real Substitute for Mother's Milk — Nursing and the Mother's 
Health — Care of the Feeding-bottle — Flatulence — Time for Weaning — Gin and 
Peppermint — Diet Versus Physic 287 

CHAPTER XXII. 
Teething. 

. ofants Sometimes Born with Teeth — Proper Time for Teething to Commence— 
Length of Time in Cutting — Lancing the Gums— Mode of Operation — Infantile 
Convulsions — Gums Injured by Various Substances — Rubber and Leather 
Rings— Sucking the Thumb — Diet of Fruit — Ailments During Teething — Pain-= 
ful Dentition— Mild Form— Treatment Recommended— The Tepid Bath—Re^ 
laxed Bowels— The "Tooth-cough " — Disastrous Effectsof Opiates— Laudanum 
and Paregoric— Swollen Gums— Pain and Inflammation— Skin Blotches- 
Second Teeth —Parental Neglect ..,,,,,,.,,,,,,.,,. 30i 



CONTENTS. tt 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

Diseases of Children. 

Inflammation of the Eyes — Hiccough and its Treatment— Snuffles, or Cold in the 
Head — Remedies for Cold — Colic, and What to Do for It — Rules for Diet™ In- 
digestion and Vomiting-— Flatulence — Milk-crust, or Scabs— Thrush, and How 
to Overcome It— Costiveness — Diarrhoea — Cholera Infantum — A Dangerous 
Ailment — Full list of Remedies for Summer Complaint — ^ Alarming Symptom^^ 
— Stupor and Convulsions — Standard Treatment — Asthma — Result of Cold- 
Importance of Prompt Relief— Vaccination— Transmission of Dis^^ase— Vacci 
nation Should be Repeated ....••* 312 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

How TO Prevent Disease. 

Unhealthy Boys and Girls — The Overworked Brain — Tendency to Scrofula — Pre- 
ventive Measures — Building Up the System — Girls Who Stoop — Curvature of 
the Spine — Treatment for Spinal Affections — Games of Sport for Young L/adies 
— Consumption-^ Blood-spitting — Causes and Remedies — Poor Diet — Treatment 
for Sore Throat — Evil Effects of Tobacco — Bleeding from the Nose — Fainting 
— Costiveness — Too Much Medicine — Appeal to American Mothers — Pimples 
on the Face — Gum-boils — How to Cure Corns — How to Destroy Warts — Deli- 
cate Young Ladies— Bodily Improvement among American Girls . . . ^ 33* 



PART IV. 
FEMALE BEAUTY AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS. 

CHAPTER XXV. 
Personal Appearance 

a. Subject of Universal Interest — Looking Only to Immediate Effect^ — How to 
Assist Nature — Fashionable Ignorance— Nostrums and Quack Cosmetics- 
Evening Dissipation— Exposure of Health— A Simple Toilet the Best— Harmful 
Dress — Barbarous Decorations — Conditions on which Personal Beauty Depends 
—Neglect of Mind and Body— Cleanliness — ^Temperance in All Things — Turn- 
ing Night into Day — Abuse of Digestion — Sickly Paleness — How Female 
Loveliness is Lost — Delicate Women — Painted Simpletons — Derangement of 
the Pulse— Hygiene of the Greeks 351 



iij CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

Bathing for Health and Beauty. 

Beauty a Thiug to be Prized — Personal Cleanliness — Vast Influence of Soap anci 
Water — Choked Perspiration — Secretions of Skin and Teeth — Contagious 
Poisons — Fruitful Sources of Ill-health— Impoverished Blood— The Tepid 
Bath — Ablutions Among Jews and Mohammedans — Dirt and Disease — Com- 
mon Neglect of Bathing — Bath-houses in Europe — The Jolly Frenchman — 
Sea-bathing — Directions for Using the Warm Bath— Right Temperatures of 
the Water — Exercise and Beauty 363 j ' 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

jSEAUTiFUL Skin and Complexion. 

A. Garment of Surpassing Loveliness — Structure of the Skin — Pores for Perspira- 
tion — Absorbent Vessels — How to Beautify the Skin — Effect of Heat and 
Cold — Ablution — Anointing — Recipes for Skin Washes — Effect of Sunlight — • 
Benefits of Friction — Flesh-gloves — Diseases of the Skin — Black Spots an(' 
Marks — Boils — Blueness and Discoloration — Dandruff^Pimples — Itch — Scalj 
Eruptions — Treatment for Skin Ailments — Freckles — Moles — Paleness — 
Roughness — Redness— Scurf and Scurvy — Pits from Small-pox — Wrinkles — 
Abrasions — Bruises — Burns and Scalds — Cuts and Incised Wounds — Excoria- 
tions— Froet-bites— Scars 373 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 
The Hair, and How to Arrange It. 

An Unrivalled Ornament — Hair of the Orientals — Premature Decay — Effect of 
Mental Emotions — Physical Structure — Hair-bulbs and Tubes — Chemical Con- 
stitution — Biography of a Hair — Necessity of General Health — Best Manage- 
ment — Use of Comb and Brush — Curl-papers — Crisping-tongs — Friction — 
Two Methods of Dressing — Objections to Artificial Styles — Cleansing the 
Scalp — Natural Arrangement of the Hair — Cutting and Clipping — A Dirty 
Habit — Luxuriant Growth — Curliness and Waviness — Fixing the Hair in 
Position 393 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

Restoration of the Hair. 

Early Decay — Cold Water and Friction — Stimulating Applications^Restoring the 
Health of the Scalp— Baldness— The Hair Affected by Old Age— Other Causes 
— ^Thick Hats — Frequent, Close Cutting — Spanish Flies or Cantharides— -Oil* 



CONTENTS. xiii 

and Pomades— Klectricity — Diet and Regular Habits— Tonics— Gray Hairs, 
and How to Treat Them— Morbid Dryness of the Hair— Use of Glycerine- 
Matting and Felting — Excessive Scurfiness — Rosemary and Thyme — Caution 
Against Quack Remedies — How Superfluous Hairs are Destroyed— Cleansing 
the Partings- -1>^>rax and Ammonia 411 

CHAPTER XXX. 

Beauty of Face and Features. 

Harmony and I-ight Proportion — The Forehead — Skin Eruptions — ^The Kyes— 
Most Expiessive Feature— How to Treat the Eyes— Belladonna — Dimness of 
Age — Remedies for Discoloration — Effects of Dust and Dirt — Eyelashes and 
Eyebrows — The N<»se — How to Mould and Beautify the Nose — Human Mouth 
and Lips — Chapped Lips — The Teeth — What Injures the Teeth — Tooth-pow- 
ders and Use of the Brush — Use of Charcoal — The Ears — Wearing, Ear-rii|g^^ 
ihin and Throat— Neck of Beauty .420 



PART V. 
POLITENESS; OR, WOMAN IN SOCIETY. 

CHAPTER XXXL 

Tasteful and Becoming Dress. 

Every Lady £1— uld Pay Attention to Dress — Fitness — Subordinate to the Person 
— Suited to Different Seasons-— 0*"iceful Curves — Hints on Colors — Variety i^. 
Costume — Dressing the Hair — The Parasol — Bonnets — " Nut-brown Maids"— 
Use of Veils — Dress for the Neck. — Sore Throats — Sudden Changes of Covering 
' -Wearing Ornaments — Vulgarity of Too Much Jewelry 434 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

Deportment and Manners. 

iiiiportance of Good Behavior — Beauty Marred by Lack of Grace — Carriage of the 
Body Reveals Character — Absence of Affectation — Self-possession — A Graceful 
Walk — The Soldier' s Drill — Avoiding Offensive Habits — Disorderly Costume — 
Coarse Eating and Drinking — Disagreeable Noises — Love to Others — Promot- 
ing Universal Happiness — Selfishness — Right of Privacy — Casual Acquaint- 
ances — Haughtiness and Piide — Anger — Rudeness — Cheerful Demeanor — 
Drones and Workers — Empty Ornaments — Keeping Engagements — Diffusing 
Good Cheer 445 



xiv 



CONTENTS, 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

The Social Queen. 

Qualifications for Good Society — Value of Birth aud Breeding — Honor to Ladies— • 
Mistress of the House— Introductions — Salutations — Rudeness to Others- 
Polite Attentions — The Sexes Should Go Together — Variety of Ages — Perfect 
Equality — The Industrious Woman — Agreeable Companions — Taste and Re- 
finement — Woman's Mission is to Adorn — Rules of Etiquette — Simplicity iu 
behavior — lyittle Observances — Receptions— Making Calls— Use of Cards--= 
faking Leave of the Host — Punctuality — ** Doing in Rome as Romans 
Po" 458 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 
The Ar7' of Conversing Well. 

Value of Good Talk- -Conversation of Animals — All Can Have Something to Say 
— The Good Listener — Guiding the Conversation — Regard t^ Rights and 
Opinions of Others — Making Others Talk — Topics that are of Mutual Interest 
— Wit and Humor — Anecdotes — Talk at Table— Sense and Knowledge — Prosy 
People — Hobbies — Slang — Egotism and Boasting — Pet Phrases — Long-winded 
Talkers — Impolite Questions — Giving Attention — Avoiding Discussions — Pay- 
ing Compliments — Moral Character , . . o 473 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

Miscellaneous Rules of Etiquette. 

Rights of the Sidewalk — Meeting on the Street^Washington's Politeness — ^The 
Veil — Street Recognition — Behavior in Church — Punctuality — Reverent De- 
meanor — The Tardy — The Talkative and Restless — Expressing Approval- 
How to Treat "Company" — Gallantry — Politeness at Home — The Hoiden— 
The Prude — Indoor Recreations — Undue Familiarity — Courtesy to Stran- 
gers — Formal Calls—Social Visits and Entertainments — Simpering and Friv- 
oUty 492 




LOVEI.IEST OF I.OVELY THINGS 



WORDSWORTH 




THE YOUNG MOTHER 



PART I. 

LOVE AND MARRIAGE. 

CHAPTER I. 
The Qualifications for Married Life. 

lyove, the Source of Happiness or Misery — Woman's Place in Mohammed g 
Paradise — Marriage an Ordinance of Heaven — Parents Stamp their Char- 
acteristics on their Children — Nature's Time for Marrying — Well Developed 
Mind and Body— Kvil Habits — Self Government and Discipline — Industry 
and Thrift — Young Ladies and the Fashions — Domestic Duties — Value of Self 
Reliance^ — Lamentable Ignorance — Hereditary Influence— Marriage Means 
Parentage — Lawful Pride in Fine Offspring. 

X yO emotion in the human breast is more powerful than that of 
^y love. None is more productive of happiness when rightly 
controlled and directed. When allowed to run wild and 
override all reason and restraint, none is so fruitful of misery. Love 
is the law of heaven and earth. It makes xife a blessing or a curse. 
Milton in one of his loftiest poetic flights exclaims : 

Hail wedded love, mysterious law, true source 
Of human offspring. 

Mohammed acted with unusual sagacity, displayed no ordinary 
understanding of human nature, and adopted effectual means for the 
accomplishment of his cherished object, when, to secure converts 
to his new religion, he promised that the eternal abode of the faithful 
should be made joyful, and lighted up with the charms and smiles of 
Woman ! This was an appeal to one of the strongest passions of our 
nature, and proved effectual in securing the attention of the stronger 
sex; and, in that age, this object achieved, secured the influence and 
commendation of the gentler and more refined half of our race. 

From the earliest time, and among all nations, whether shrouded 
in Pagan darkness or enjoying the pure and elevating influence of 
Christianity ; among those who treat the female sex like slaves and 

8 17 



18 QUALIFICATIONS FOR MaRRIAGK. 

beasts of burden, and those who recognize her as entitled to an equal 
rank with man, companionship between the sexes has ever been found 
to be the strongest desire of our race. It is not peculiar to either sex, 
but is cherished in common by both. 

This is an ordinance of Heaven, none can deny. And the origin 
of the institution of matrimony might convince the skeptic of his error; 
for the only volume which gives an authentic early history of our race, 
declares in the outset, that in our creation, the distinction of sex was 
ordered as a contribution to our enjoyment, and that therefrom 
should follow perpetual companionship. **And the Lord God said, it 
is not good that man should be alone : I will make him an helpmeet 
for him." And after He had created woman, and given her to Adam 
to be his wife, Adam acknowledged the precious gift with the pro- 
foundest gratitude. He said of her, " This is now bone of my bones 
and flesh of my flesh;" and the sacred volume adds, ''Therefore 
shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife ; 
and they twain shall be one JlesJi!* 

LfOve and Marriage arc Natural. 

Marriage is also sanctioned by the very laws of our being. It is 
just as natural to love and marry as it is to breathe. The world loves; 
the world marries. Misery, you say, grows out of married life ; so 
does the purest, deepest enjoyment. The misery is nothing against 
marriage itself, but against wrong, hasty, foolish marriages. These 
every mother, every father, should guard against, yes, and young 
people themselves. 

Wc cannot be too well acquainted with those qualifications ana 
organizations capable of transmitting the qualities which we most 
desire in our children. As perfect children are the most valued and 
beloved, as the laws of reproduction are unchangeable; and as per- 
fection is only in proportion to obedience to these laws, in order to 
secure our highest wishes, we see the almost imperious necessity 
of our not only understanding, but complying with these require- 
ments of nature. 



QUALIFICATIONS FOR MARRIAGE. 19 

If we were as honest and careful in choosing companions for Hfe as 
we are in business transactions, we should not then run the risks we 
now do ; and the majority of those who marry would be compara- 
tively happy; because each would be better suited, much more 
satisfied — would know better what to expect of the object of tbeir 
choice ; since they would have a better understanding of each other, 
and would be less liable to discord. 

Causes of Unhappy Marriages. 

Married as many are, at the present day, and have been in years 
past, they are more liable to commit crime than they would be if 
single, and their children grow up to curse them for their existence ; 
when, if they had been properly married, they would have made the 
best of companions and parents. The evils consequent upon these 
unphilosophical and unscientifical marriages, result in much of the 
social and domestic disarrangements, quarrels, separations, and divorces 
of such frequent occurrence in society ; but, guided by judgment and 
science, there is but little room for disappointment or dissatisfaction. 
Among qualifications that might be mentioned, a few only will be 
noticed. 

A Well-Developed Mind and Body. 

To those who would be true companions and parents, a sound 
mind and body are indispensable. Nothing is done as it should be 
without them ; as in after life the first movements will be regretted, 
while they will necessarily be destined to a course of life, which to 
them is a source of continual annoyance, if not dissatisfaction. The 
above qualifications are necessary because a full, complete, and 
healthy action of all the functions of the body and mind, is necessary 
in order to discharge the duties which almost inevitably fall upon 
married persons. 

The natural duties of man are never in advance of his natural 
qualifications ; and those who hurry, force, or try to outdo nature, do 
so, much to their disadvantage. Nature's time and ways are the best ; 
and those who are premature in their plans in the commencement of 



1 



20 QUALIFICATIONS FOR MARRIAGE. 

life, are very apt to find a premature decay of those powers they then 
call into action. It is almost an every day occurrence that persons, 
particularly females, hurry into married life before they are fully 
developed, either mentally or physically, and before they have either 
judgment, reason, or experience. 

No precise rule can be given when every person ought to marry, 
only that none should think of so doing, until they have arrived at 
maturity. Both the mental and physical powers of some are developed 
many years before those of others ; yet, as a general rule, woman is 
as well qualified in development at twenty as man at twenty-five ; 
but that age is rather early for the majority. 

The Educated "Woman. 

Woman, after marriage, as a general thing, enter soon upon the 
duties of a parent ; and, as society now is, has very limited opportu- 
nities for mental culture ; and, as education is absolutely necessary in 
order to train and educate children properly, she should, before mar- 
riage, store her mind with useful information. 

A young man who marries before he has come to years of discre- 
tion, is Hke a mariner who pushes out to sea without a compass, or 
even a knowledge of it. He takes upon himself the cares and respon- 
sibilities of a family, without even thinking what they are, and mud 
less without making preparations beforehand to meet them. 

But persons should not only be old enough for a full development 
of their mental and physical powers, with an education adequate to 
their maturity, and a full knowledge of, and preparation for, all the 
duties devolving upon them in these near relations, but they should 
bear in mind that, in proportion as they are naturally deficient in any 
of the mental or physical elements, just in that proportion are they 
disqualified to discharge all the duties of married life. 

As society is, and as children are brought into the world, and 
educated, we cannot expect many perfect souls or bodies. Yet, if 
perfection be needed, or desirable anywhere, it is in these relations. 
And from the fact that the majority of persons are more or less 




THE HEART FEELS MOST WHEN THE LIPS MOVE NOT 



QUALIFICATIONS FOR MARRIAGE. 21 

imperfect, they are not prepared to appreciate perfection, if they should 
find it; consequently they should endeavor to select those whose 
imperfections would be the least inconvenient to them. 

If one parent be very deficient in any one thing, it is unfortunj^te ; 
but if both parents are very deficient in the same quality, it is still 
worse, both on their own account and that of their offspring. 

Self-government and Discipline. 

Without some restraint, a family is like a horse without a driver 
or a bit, a ship without a rudder, a church without a priest, a nation 
without a ruler, or a day without a sun. Proper restraints are as 
necessary as a table in a kitchen, or chairs in a parlor. 

The evils of green wood, a smoky house, a scolding wife, and cry- 
ing children, are not half as bad when they are all joined together, as 
the absence of self-government and mental discipline; for, without 
them, we have all the above-mentioned evils, and in fact more ; for in 
domestic arrangements there would be a want of every thing that is 
convenient, appropriate, and desirable ; an abundance of every thing 
as it should not be, and nothing as it should be. S^^lf-government is 
absolutely necessary to government in a family ; and if as parents, our 
own minds are not trained and disciplined, we canno* succeed in train- 
ing and disciplining those of others. 

Without these qualifications a family is always on the extremct 
You never know where to find them, or what to depend upon ; ''they 
are full of variableness and shadow of turning." Easily carried away 
by every change and tide of doctrine ; not having ihe power tc 
regulate their own affairs or to steer their own course through life, 
they allow all their neighbors, who wish, to help t^em ; one day 
listening to the advice of one, and the next, perhaps assenting to some- 
thing entirely the reverse of it ; thus confusion is the order of the 
day ; too late for the boat, too late to church, never quite ready or in 
season ; easily tempted, easily influenced. 

Without industry there is no continued success; wheiK industry 
exists in a family, it is sure to thrive, and not be dependent oa <^thers 



22 QUALIFICATIONS FOR MARRIAGE. 

for support. Idleness produces many evils : it is the road to vice and 
bad habits. Industry is the mother of plenty, and makes man cheer- 
ful, happy, and blessed. Industry and good habits combined, lead to 
health, wealth, honor and plenty, and secure the confidence and 
respect of friends and associates, while idleness and bad habits destroy 
them all. 

It matters not how many good habits a young family may h..ve ; 
for, there are many which greatly facilitate business, and add much 
happiness to the family enjoyments. But bad habits are a stain and 
a curse on any family. 

There are some habits which have a direct tendency to Jestoy con- 
nubial enjoyments ; and, where they exist, marriage should positively 
be prevented. 

False Ideas and Customs. 

Young ladies, who have formed habits connected with the perni- 
cious customs of the day, are not the best persons for companions or 
parents. Their attention to extremes in dress, in fashion, their artifi- 
cial airs, their studied hypocrisy, their idleness, irregular habits, false 
and imperfect ideas of beauty and perfection ; their tight-lacing, and 
their wrong standard of character, all tend, directly and indirectly, to 
destroy the qualities which are indispensable prerequisites for constitu- 
ting good companions and parents. 

That such habits do have the most alarming and degrading influ- 
ences on mind and body, and are directly calculated to poison and 
corrupt all the sources of connubial felicity, as well as entail upon 
innocent offspring the most fearful calamities, diseases, and premature 
deaths, in numerous ways, needs no proof more clear than is afforded 
by the lives, characters, and confessions of thousands of those who 
have had the bitter experience of their blighting effects upon their own 
physical, mental, and intellectual endowments, and by the indescribable 
wretchedness they have brought into so many families and com-^ 
munities. 

But, distressing as these revelations prove them to be, the evils do 
not commonly end with their own generation ; but, by a law of 



QUALIFICATIONS FOR MARRIAGE. 23 

hereditary descent, parents generate the same evil propensities in their 
offspring, and thus perpetuate them, from generation to generation ; 
so that from one degraded and miserable slave to vice, hundreds and 
thousands are ruined. So far are such persons from being qualified 
for the high responsibilities of the marriage duties, they are a curse to 
any community ; for their influence upon others, be it ever so little, is 
all evilj and that continually. 

Preparation for Married Life. 

That an education which will fit persons for domestic duties, is as 
necessary as it is for any other department of life, is self-evident ; yet, 
such an education is by many almost entirely neglected, and by a 
vast majority too much so. Although the marriage state is one 
which is designed for wise and important purposes, and by the fulfil- 
ment of which man gratifies some of the strongest desires of the 
human mind, yet, as a general thing, we are as poorly qualified for 
it by mental training and information as for any other condition in 
which we may be accidentally placed. We use double the means to 
obtain the object that we do to qualify ourselves for enjoying it when 
obtained. 

When we speak of education as being adapted to the social depart- 
ment, we have special reference to a well disciplined mind, to an 
experimental acquaintance with domxcstic labor, and a familiar knowl- 
edge of household matters and duties ; young women should be able 
\o sympathize with those engaged in domestic affairs, by an indi- 
vidual experience in the same matters. 

Every Girl Should be Independent. 

Every young lady, whether she be rich or poor, especially if she 
anticipates marriage, should be as familiar with the necessary duties 
of the family, as she is with the keys of her piano ; and much more 
than with the fashionable acquirements of the day ; for none can fill 
the sphere of a companion and parent, until they are intimate with 
household labors, are capable of arranging family matters, and supply- 



24 QUALIFICATIONS FOR MARRIAGE. 

ing their own wants, particularly in the line of making garments, 
preparing food, etc. 

It will not do in this country to depend \ipon crte slightest tenure 
of property ; for it is an everyday occurrenc'e that wealth takes wings 
and flies away. To be dependent upon the milliner, the cook, 
and domestic, (which in our cities are mostly of the lower, and 
ignorant class,) is a slavery to which a truly independent mind would 
jievcr be willing to submit. And yet scarcely a day passes over our 
heads, but many young women take this too often unhappy step, 
without understanding even the common rudiments of housekeeping. 

Young men, with their eyes blinded by beauty and wealth, or 
accomplishments which are generally laid aside and forgotten after 
marriage, frequently hurry on the wedding day, but find that they 
have but a painted doll, a mere automaton in the great drama of life. 
Young men also are frequently through ignorance as poorly qualified 
to discharge their duties in the domestic department ; and when thus 
disqualified, they are thereby incapable of adapting themselves so 
agreeably, or to appreciate the peculiar feelings of a wife in her various 
circumstances. 

There Must be Home Education. 

They will, as husbands, expect as much at one time as another, and 
fail to make those allowances which the nature of the case requires, 
being less qualified to adapt themselves to her in the various changes 
of circumstances. Where this is the case the wife pines away, grows 
pale and languid, and not unfrequently becomes discouraged and 
broken-hearted. 

What should we think of a man who, the first time he steps on 
board of a vessel, declares himself able to take command, pushes off, 
and raises sail for a foreign port? All would join in saying that he 
was rash and unwise, and that he ought first to make himself 
acquainted and familiar with the rigging of the ship, and the ii.se of 
all the instruments on board. No one will hesitate in predicting to 
him a rough if not a dangerous passage, and would be unwilling to 
«;mbark with him. How many are there in marned life who make a 



QUALIFICATIONS FOR MARRIAGE. 25 

fatal shipwreck oi^ all they possess, simply because they do not under- 
stand how to steer and balance the matrimonial ship. 

To manage a family well, and adapt one's self successfully to a 
companion, is as much an art as anything else, and requires as much 
preparation, skill and judgment, and much more presence of mind, 
patience and common sense, than any other conditions of life. 

Parents do their children a great injustice by neglecting the instruc 
tion of their sons and daughters in these matters, which are so 
intimately connected with their future success and happiness in this 
life. The details of that education cannot be dwelt upon here. 

Children are Not as They Make Themselves. 

We should marry with regard to posterity, as well as to our 
individual happiness. The fact that society is affected by hereditary 
influence, is established beyond a doubt. Every farmer in the country 
is prepared to admit the general principle as applied to animals ; and, 
every one acquainted with history, is obliged to admit the fact as 
applied to man. Children, then, are as they are made by others. 

And as the laws of production are unchangeable, and the mental 
and physical organization the necessary result of law and those laws 
in the hands of parents, it lays them and all who expect to be parents, 
under strong moral obligations duly to appreciate the result of their 
labors. 

If society were not affected by hereditary influences, and if the next 
step after marriage were not parentage, then it would be less impor- 
tant to think of, or care for the future, in those particulars. But a? 
things now exist, it is not sufficient for those who intend marriage t( 
consult their own individual happiness, but they should also consult 
that of posterity. If this were the case, each generation would be an 
improvement on preceding ones. At present, however, the majority 
of society, from all appearances, live only for selfish purposes, 
regardless of the consequences to posterity ; and thus, the improve- 
men' of the race is much retarded, man is degraded, and God dis- 
honored. 



CHAPTER II. 
Advice to the Unmarried. 

Marrying to Please Others — Stigma of " Old Maid," or " Old Bachelor "-—Sound 
Judgment Needed — "Petticoat Government " — Both Parties Should Do the 
Courting — Flirting as a Pastime — Fashion and Domestic Duties — How Ro- 
mance Disappears — Dram-Drinking Husbands — Marrying for Money — Long 
Courtships — Temperaments That are Too Much Alike — Like Parents, Like 
Children — Prowling Fortune-Hunters — Marrying Out of Your Natural 
Sphere — Evils of Coquettery — Defective Education — Exciting L ^healthy 
Passions — Harmonious Development of the Whole Woman. 

riAO one and all we would say, do not marry unless you love, and 
X do not love unless guided by reason and judgment. Do not 
marry contrary to your own judgment and inclination, merely 
to please your friends ; for this reflection does not bring domestic 
peace when you find that you are confined to one not at all congenial 
to your feelings : your happiness, in married life, will depend on your 
union, and not how it was brought about. 

Being so very accommodating as to give your hand and virtue to a 
man without your love, because you cannot bear to see him weep 
when refused ; or because you are afraid of hurting his feelings, if you 
refuse him, is a spirit that should not be recognized among human 
beings where their own welfare and that of posterity depend on a 
different course of conduct. 

"A Crooked Stick At Last." 

Do not marry then in any case to avoid importunities and puer- 
ilities, or to save the tears and feelings of others ; as selfishness, if it 
can be so called, or rather self-love, is justifiable in this case. 

Do not marry because you think it is the last opportunity. To 

refuse good offers in hope of obtaining those more eligible, and then 

through fear of living in single blessedness, to accept because you 

think you will have the •* crooked stick at last," is like a man grasp- 

26 



ADVICE TO THE UNMARRIED. 27 

ing a straw to save himself from going over the dam. Never marry to 
get rid of the stigma of being called an old maid, or an old bachelor. 

It is an honor and a credit to many, that they have had prudence 
and sense of duty sufficient to control their feelings, and to enable 
them to remain single. 

Many, by not consulting their organization and qualifications for 
married life, have brought great evils on themselves and also on pos- 
terity, simply to show the world that they can marry, and thus remove 
the reproaches (that many fling) of a single life. 

Desperately Anxious to Get a Husband. 

Said a certain lady, '* I would not live single if I had to marry the 
greatest * roue ' in the city." That was weakness and folly. 

In this all-important step, which has to do with your own individual 
happiness particularly, allow your friends and enemies to give you 
facts, and be thankful for them, but think for yourself; exercise your 
own judgment independently. By judgment we do not mean the 
calculations of mere intellect, but the whole mind, embracing the 
feelings, the sentiments, and propensities. When the consent of all 
these faculties of the mind has been obtained, then it is certain you 
are under a moral obligation to marry, regardless of opposition. 

Do not marry with the determination to rule or not to be ruled. 
Scarcely anything appears more foolish than this absurd feeling of 
" I am not to be dictated to," " I will have my own way," *' I shall 
not sign away my liberty, I can tell you," etc. — the lady afraid to 
yield, for fear complete submission will be the result ; the husband, 
from dread of appearing to be under " petticoat government." 

Domestic Enjoyment Destroyed. 

A civil war of this kind puts to flight, most effectually, all hope of 
domestic enjoyment. It is, invariably, the growth of foolish pride 
and morbid, little independence, as far removed from real dignity as 
light from darkness — oftentimes exhibited before marriage in persist- 
ing in certain actions or habits when their suspension is desired. 



28 ADVICE TO THE UNMARRIED. 

It cannot be too strongly impressed on your minds, that " mutual 
forbearance is the touch-stone of domestic happiness." " The angel 
of the marriage covenant bears the inscription on each wing, which he 
folds in sorrow when the admonition is unheeded." 

Do not be so modest as to let one do all the courting, the other 
replying only in monosyllables ; for very frequently the tongue 
becomes more pliable, or loosed when damages cannot be repaired. 

Playing the " dumb belle " and silent lover, is a very silly mode of 
transacting business. No ; it is your duty to unfold your characters 
in their true colors to each other. In the married state, it is your 
duty, and should be your pleasure, to sympathize with and console 
each other, and thus beget a winning and soothing confidence that 
does much towards making home desirable and happy. 

Coquettes and Flatterers. 

Do not marry a coquette or a flatterer. A coquette has no Heart, 
and a flatterer but a hollow and deceptive one. 

Do not trifle with your affections, by keeping company as a niattei 
of curiosity or of opposition. 

Writers have dwelt with much effect upon the evils produced on 
the intellect by novel reading, but, the effects of literary trifling, bad 
as they may be, fall far short of the ravages of hydrarheaded social 
dissipation. Parties, routs, the strained and tender compliment, th( 
sigh and protestation, the coquetting and flirting practiced as mere 
pastime, inevitably destroy true affection. Persons who have passed 
but one season in amusements of this sort, have generally rendered 
themselves incapable of being influenced by natural and true affection 
— their feelings have been completely seared. 

Persons who have been drilled in all the tactics of fashion, should 
be resolutely avoided, nine cases in ten. They have become suscep- 
tible of but one love — the love of themselves. The plague has tainted 
their blood, producing certain death to all the warm and generous 
sympathies that should issue from the cup of gladness into th** 
secluded bosom oi the family. 




THIS LNGRAVING SHOWS AN ANIiVIAIlU SCENE OF ENJOYMENT. THE SWIM ME ,".3 REACH 

THE WATER BY USE OF THE SLIDING BOARD, THUS GIVING 

ADDITIONAL ZEST TO THE SPORT 



ADVICE TO THE UNMARRIED. 29 

Do not be so precise and regular in the time that you make your 
visits — both parties, thus prepare for such occasions by embellishing 
and rendering their appearance foreign to nature ; each parades his or 
her good qualities to the front, and shows how pleasant, kind, agree- 
able, and polite they can be when they are prepared for it. 

From using these forced and artificial means to entertain each other, 
an acquaintance is made with one's abilities for pleasing only, and not 
for displeasing ; the disagreeable traits of character, not being neces- 
sary, are concealed ; but the occasion over, they manifest themselves 
in right good earnest, and when it is entirely too late— the words *' for 
better or for worse," having been pronounced. 

In your courting days you had the " better," but now you are 
prepared to appreciate the meaning of the latter term. 

It is a positive fact, that men and women are not heroes and angels, 
except upon the pages of a romance. 

When you are married, you will be obHged to come in contact 
while your faces are flushed by exercise, dresses disordered by labor, 
tempers a little ruffled by trifling circumstances and annoyances — 
ivhen the toilet is not prepared with extra care, and many other trifles 
connected with " little responsibilities," estabHshing beyond a doubt 
that earth is not heaven, and poor human nature somewhat else than 
poetry. 

Love Should Not be Stimulated. 

These things are so ; and you may as well study each other in 
these situations, as when *' dressed up " and seated in the parlor. In 
the one case, you are Hable to be *' taken in ; " and in the other, know- 
ing what to expect, disappointment cannot creep in. Contentment 
must reign — giving a fair opportunity for happiness. 

Do not excite your love by foreign stimulants. The influences of 
love and wine should never be united. Men, when under the 
excitem^ent of intoxicating liquors, are not in full possession of all their 
faculties : they have excited their animal propensities, and by so doing, 
have rendered the manifestations of their feelings brutal. There is no 
woman of sense and purity throughout the land, but must, having thf5. 



30 ADVICE TO THE UNMARRIED. 

knowledge of the debasing influences of ardent spirits, the foul and 
demoniac crimes which have been committed under the auspices of 
drunkenness, view the attentions of persons under this animal excite- 
ment as an insult of the blackest kind. 

Errors to be Avoided. 1 

If you are very poor, do not marry a person very wealthy, merely 
on account of his or her wealth, unless you wish to act the part of a 
servant, and to live with the continued reflection that you are eating 
another's bread and riding in another's carriage. 

If you have insane or consumptive tendencies of body, do not marry 
one who has the same, unless you wish to bring upon yourself, your 
family, and posterity, all the evils of hereditary disease. 

Do not be so long in courting as to change your mind, or so quick 
as to be rash, or ignorant of the character you have chosen. If you 
have no love in your soul, do not marry unless it is with one of a 
similar disposition. 

If your mental or physical organization is extremely susceptible to 
impressions, do not marry one of the same extreme or of the opposite 
order. There should be a tendency to the medium line ; if an organ 
or function is very large in one, then it should be less in the other, so 
as to have a restraining influence ; yet, it should not be so small as to 
be disgusted with the extravagant manifestation of it. If one has an 
organ very small, the other should have it a little larger, so that it 
may not be deficient in the family ; and also that it may serve as a 
stimulus for the one in whom it is weak. 

Variety is Desirable, 

A long article might be written on this subject, and a detailed 
account of the manner in which each of the developments should 
rank, might be mentioned ; but that is not necessary, as the subject 
addresses itself to the common sense of every one. 

Variety is at times agreeable and even desirable ; yet extremes in 
any of the arrangements of nature, or in two separately organized 



ADVICE TO THE UNMARRIED. 31 

Dodies, scarcely ever harmonize in action or in that adaptation neces- 
sary to produce unitorm results. 

A gentleman, who thought he understood human nature very well, 
the motives of action, etc., had very small acquisitiveness, and, in his 
selecting a wife, looked for one with the organ large ; but, when they 
were united, this was the source of trouble and contention ; for, she 
took all his earnings, and was unwilling that he should expend a single, 
cent beyond his actual necessities. This state of feeling increased to 
such a degree that he separated from her, and now lives alone in the 
world, unhappy and desolate, convinced that extremes do not always 
produce happiness. 

This law of harmony and balance should be recognized, not only 
for the convenience of the parties concerned, but for the sake of 
posterity. 

What Kind of Children Will You Have? 

The organization of children depends on two things ; first, the 
organization of the parents ; and secondly, the influence of circumi- 
stances on the minds and activity of the various faculties and functions 
of those parents before conception, and particularly afterward on the 
part of the mother. 

If, then, both parents have the same function very large or very 
small, the child must necessarily partake of that extreme, unless a 
change is produced by Uie force of circumstances. If both parents 
are idiots, the child will be idiotic. If very nervous or consumptive, 
the children will be so disposed, li conscientiousness, firmness, self- 
esteem, or any other organ is very small in the parents, they will be 
so in the child, unless it is rendered large by the great activity of 
these faculties in the parents. If cautiousness, secretiveness, destruc- 
tiveness, amativeness, or any of the animal propensities are very large 
and active in the parents, they will be manifest in the children. 

If you are very rich, select your companions yourself instead of 
permitting another to choose for you ; so that you may not be 
troubled with the reflection that you were selected for your wealth. 



S'2 ADVICE TO THE UNMARRIED. 

A young lady of royal blood, from the south of Europe, who was 
very wealthy, accomplished and beautiful, traveled in this country in 
the garb of a servant or companion, for the purpose of making her 
own observations and selecting her friends without her name, rank, 
and wealth being known ; fearing that they might be the means of 
attracting attention, and draw a crowd of flatterers around her, 
regardless of her own natural qualities, which was not a very pleasant 
reflection. She was a true unsophisticated child of nature, traveled 
extensively, and enjoyed herself highly. 

A gentleman, appreciating her native talent, made love to her and 
they were married and settled at the south. She had the satisfaction 
to know and experience that she was beloved for herself alone. He 
was made thrice happy, when he found, in addition to her own per- 
sonal and acquired qualifications, all other things desirable. They 
lived in the enjoyment of almost uninterrupted felicity for many years. 
After his death, she returned to Europe to grace again the circles of 
wealth and intelligence, which she had voluntarily left for a season. 
Had she followed some other course, she might have been the dupe 
of some for'^^ne-hunter, prowling over the country. 

Consent of Parents. 

Be sure that you have the confidence and sanction of the parents 
Defore you proceed with your negotiations. To secure the affections 
of a young lady, and make arrangements to be married, and then ask 
the consent of the parents and be refused, is quite an unpleasant pre- 
.'icament in which to be placed. In this case you are left to one ot 
two alternatives, either of which is unfortunate. 

To marry contrary to the wishes of friends and parents, or sacrifice 
your love, both of which might have been avoided, if the necessary 
precautions had been taken in season. Do not marry so much above 
or below your sphere, as either to secure the contempt and the 
reproaches of friends, or fail to adapt yourself to the peculiar con- 
dition of your companion. 

Finally, do not allow any one faculty of the mind, any one condi- 



ADVICE TO THE UNMARRIED. S3 

tion of the body, any one favorable or flattering remark, the enthu- 
siasm of the moment, or the excitement of passion to balance all other 
considerations — thus bringing about a partial union, and securing the 
possibility only of imperfect happiness. 

Acting from the Highest Motives. 

Those individuals who are governed by selfish motives in these 
.natters, wiK resort to dishonest and improper means to accomplish 
their object. They have not a sufficient amount of conscience or 
principle to regulate and control them : the consequence of which is, 
there can be no confidence placed in them ; they are liable at any and 
all times to go or be led astray, and are especially unfit to assune the 
weighty responsibilities which devolve on heads of families. 

Persons of this character should be resolutely and determinedly 
avoided. From the existence of such men and women in society, ca^' 
be traced the origin of the deception, pretension, falsehood, flattery, 
assumed piety, strained politeness and artificial endeavors to entertain 
each other while together, which may be denominated the reefs and 
shoals of the sea of matrimony. 

Trifling with Affections. 

Many unprincipled young men of fortune, leisure, and accomplish- 
ments in our cities, spend much of their time in female society, using 
all their faculties and powers of pleasing with apparently honest inten- 
tions, labor assiduously to secure the affections of young ladies, and 
afterward make their dignified and lofty boasts of how many beautiful 
iiid charming young ladies are crazy after them, even if they do not 
proceed farther and trifle with their affections in the basest manner. 
Such men, or apologies for men, deserve to be branded with the 
blackest marks of infamy, the most indelible sign of disgrace, merit- 
ing nothing but obloquy and contempt. 

Young women, too regardless of consequences, sometimes thought- 
lessly turn coquettes, present their charms and bright attractions, use 
their best endeavors, exhibit excessive devotion and exclusive aflec- 



84 ADVICE TO THE UNMARRIED. 

tion, and by these means decoy and lead astray, if not absolutely ruin, 
many an honest, worthy young man. The hearts of such ladies exist 
but in name; they have long since been dissipated in thin ai*: tV"^-- 
are only worthy of becoming the wives of the soulless j. 
described in the last paragraph. 

The world is full of this reckless and unprincipled way of t itiing 
with the most ardent, influential rnd endearing feelings of our nature. 

Source of Untold Evils and Misery. 

Were the evils brought upon society, families and individuals by 
this extensive but very pernicious course of conduct thoroughly inves- 
tigated and dwelt upon, we should be presented with the real first 
cause why there are so many lewd men and women, so much vice, 
immorality, and licentiousness in our cities — would unfold the origin 
of the wretchedness and despair of miserable thousands, and expose 
the causes of many an early death. 

It is the duty of every one, and God holds them accountable for 
the performance, to use their personal influence in removing unhealthy 
tendencies, particularly of the kind to which we have alluded. 

As young people are now educated, many are not capable or quali- 
fied to discharge the duties which necessarily present themselves in 
the marriage relations. 

The primary powers of their mind, their inclinations and passions, 
however, are not changed or modified to suit their abilities. 

They are urged on by the blind impulses of their nature, to the 
altar of marriage, no more prepared to fulfil their solemn vows, or to 
discharge their duties, than is the mariner to navigate the broad sur- 
face of the mighty ocean without chart or compass. 

Sickly Creatures. 

The education of young ladies, especially, is very defective in many 
circles, particularly among the more fashionable, wealthy, and artifi- 
cially accomplished. 

Instead of being taught to work and help support themselves. 



ADVICE TO THE UNMARRIED. 35 

thereby forming habits of industry and economy that are of invaluable 
service in after life, and securing health, hilarity, vivacity, and spright- 
linf-cs bvithe free and ready exercise of muscle and mind, they become 
ud sickly in their bodies, as well as peevish and fretful in their 
'ons. 
rheii parents become their slaves, their very drudges, and they are 
allowed to grow up in a debilitating and enervating idleness, their 
bodily powers only equalled in puerility by their mental — unable tc 
take care of themselves or boldly meet difficulties which some unfore- 
seen event may cast in their path, fitted only for toys and playthings, 
not for companions and confidants — the whole extent of their useful 
acquirements being ability to dress fashionably, behave genteelly, walk 
and dance gracefully, play upon the piano very beautifully, talk very 
softly and sweetly, to ridicule the idea of coming in contact with any 
of the commonplaces of life, pore over the sickly and trashy tales of 
a magazine or novel, and amuse the company by a display of their 
personal attractions, natural and unnatural, exciting an unhealthy, if 
not an immoral influence over others. 

Artificial Accomplishments. 

Or if, perchance, th^y work, it is merely to show their taste upon 
some article of dress designed to adorn their too artificial bodies, con • 
suiting neither health nor convenience, or, perhaps, to put on their 
gloves and dust the parlor, possibly to set the table, and yet very 
anxious to marry without understanding the rudiments of house- 
keeping. 

Such wives and mothers should be scarce, and yet such a system 
of education is encouraged by the other sex, who are by far the 
greatest sufferers, being more fond of their wives and daughters when 
they appear well, even to the neglect of their families ; also by paying 
attentions and clustering around those young ladies whose dress is 
most ** baby-like." 

The true principles of education, founded upon athletics and 
physiology, would say, cultivate and improve the physical powers to 



3b ADVICE TO THE UNMARRIED. 

the utmost, so as to secure health of body, strength of constitution, 
and the power of becoming parents of children, not characterized by- 
weakness and effeminacy. 

Exercise the mind, the whole mind, bearing in view the fact that 
the brain, the material organ of the mind, is capable of being benefited 
by regular tasks, and of being injured by excesses, precisely in the. 
same manner as the body can be weakened by any over-action. 

Long Life and Happiness. 

When the mental and physical organization of man is properly 
understood, and the laws by which those organizations are affected are 
obeyed, families will enjoy uninterrupted health, long life and uniform 
happiness. 

Man's enjoyment in this life depends more on the proper exercise 
of the social feelings and their gratification in the domestic relations, 
than on any other condition in life. For him to enter upon these 
duties, and assume the necessary obligations without being thoroughly 
qualified and prepared, would be as great a sin and violation of duty 
as for an ignorant man, unacquainted with the principles of Chris- 
tianity, and not enlightened by grace, to attempt to teach the way of 
salvation. 

We should change our situations and enter into the matrimonial 
relations solely with the intention of becoming more happy and useful. 

It should be looked at, reasoned upon, and spoken of, as an honest 
and most important business. To treat serious subjects in a light, 
trifling, nonsensical manner, is quite injurious, and should be 
reprobated. 

We should do it with an eye upon our mutual and individual hap- 
piness, remembering that perfect happiness can arise only from the 
proper adaptation and exercise of all our natural powers, socially, 
morally, intellectually, and physically — consequently, we should con- 
suit all of them, and gratify as many as possible. And above all, we 
should do it with the reflection that from three to six generations of 
our descendants will be directly affected by the choice we make. 




A LOOK THAT SEARCHES SECRETS HID AWAY 




"'TIS EXPECTATION MAKES A BLESSING DEAR, 



CHAPTER III. 
Like Begets Like. 

BiFects of Hereditary Disease — Mental or Nervous Organization — Living too PaJt 
— Bilious Temperament — Coarse Muscles — Sluggish Brains — The Mental 
Dwarfed by the Physical — Well Balanced People — Perverted Passions — 
Violation of Physical Laws — Society in Upheaval — Young Ladies and Theii 
Associates — Parental Responsibility — Transmitting Disease and Death — Sins 
of Parents Visited on their Children — Perfecting the Race — The Characteristics 
of the Child Determined by the Parents. 

AS the condition of man now is, many are not proper subjects to 
hand down to posterity a healthy, happy family. Persons 
who labor under hereditary diseases of any kind are poorly 
qualified for becoming parents ; for by so doing they multiply sorrow, 
suffering and early death. 

If persons affected with any hereditary disease marry with the 
intention of becoming parents, they should pay strict attention to the 
laws of physiology and marry those only who are particularly well 
fortified in those qualities in which they are deficient — those having a 
strong and well-balanced constitution, a good stock of vitality, and an 
active and energetic mind. 

The children, in this case, will be like or resemble the more active 
and healthy parent, and be much less affected by the one diseased 
than they would if both were diseased or unhealthy ; or than they 
would be if there were no counteracting qualities in either of the par- 
ties. Persons of the same physical qualities in the extreme should 
njt marry. 

Marks of the Mental Organization. 

The mental or nervous organization may be known by a delicate 
frame, sharp features, thin skin, fine hair, sparkling eyes, quick move- 
ments, rapid speech, joined with a great desire to read, think, and 
gratify the intellectual powers generally. 

If the nervous organization prevails, the mind is predominant in 

37 



38 LIKE BEGETS LIKE. 

power and activity, and the constitution suffers severely from the con^ 
stant drains made on it. Such persons mature early, suffer or enjoy 
in the extreme, lead a brilliant but short career, and generally find a 
premature grave. 

Two persons uniting with a predominance of this organi?:3Tion will 
live too fast, be too extravagant in thought, word, and deed, will enjoy 
and suffer in the extreme, carry everything to excess, dr .-)te them- 
selves too exclusively to the exercise of mind as suck, etna mil be 
resuless, uneasy, feeble, irregular, uneven and inconsistent. 

Precocious Children. 

Children of such parents are generally few in number, dwarfish, 
puny and " too smart to live." The ranks of the insane are too fre- 
quently increased from fa^^ilies of this organization ; and when young 
they consequently require double the care and attention, and are much 
more depe'ident than other children. They are endowed with feelings 
so keen, and susceptibilities so acute, that their existence is almost a 
burden for the want of the ability to look on the trials, privations and 
hardships of life as though they were prepared to meet them. Such 
families soon become extinct, and *' the places that once knew them, 
know them no more." 

The motive or bilious organization comprises the frame- work of the 
body, the bones and muscles, the moving part of man, the house 
which encases the vital functions. 

The indications of this organization, when greatly preponderating, 
are solid bones, hard muscles, firm flesh, close and large joints, large 
and irregular features, dark hair and complexion, heavy expression 
and slow movements. Such persons are difficult to excite and hard 
to restrain ; have strong and well-fortified constitutions ; are genera' ly 
well-qualified to resist foreign influences, both mental and physical. 
Such persons are our hewers of wood and drawers of water ; are 
capable of sustaining the fatigues and hardships of life : they do the 
coarse heavy work, arc backward in youth, tenacious of life, and 
struggle in death. 



J 



L-iKE BEGETS LIKE. 39 

Two persons with a predominance of this organization united in 
marriage would be far behind the age and the spirit of the times ; 
would always be in the rear, and would act as machines or automa- 
tons for their neighbors. In them there is more ability to act than to 
plan ; more strength and toughness than refinement and sensibility. 

The children of such parents will be hardy and healthy, but awk- 
ward, homely, backward, and never in their element except when the 
harness is on ; real plodders through life, doing all the hard work, 
fighting all the battles, raising all the monuments, but obtaining none 
of the credit. They help to make others rich, but die poor them- 
selves, and are soon obliterated from memory. 

They are the real sinews of the land, but rarely exert a moral cind 
intellectual influence. Their standard is physical, their exertions are 
physical, and their attainments physical. 

This organization joined with the nervous or mental, gives vigor 
and strength of mind and produces greatness and power of intellect. 

Full Chest and Broad Shoulders. 

The vital organization is the combination of what is generally called 
';he sanguine and lymphatic ; it has reference to the thoracic and 
abdominal regions of the body and may be known, when in the 
ascendency, by a large, round, plump body, full chest, broad shoul- 
ders, round limbs, strong pulse, large base to the brain and lower 
portion of the face, with fiorrid complexion, sandy hair, and a healthy, 
social and animated expression. All the vital organs, those on which 
life depends and is generated, are large and active. 

Persons with a predominance of this organization place a high value 
on life and its pleasures, enjoy all there is to be enjoyed, sleep 
soundly, breathe freely, eat heartily, and like to partake of the lux- 
Ux'ies of the table. 

Their motto is : *' Live while you live." They are fond of excite- 
ment and amusement ; always busy, yet do not trouble themselves 
about hard and steady work ; more disposed to oversee others and 
give orders than to obey those of others. They frequent social gath- 



40 



LIKE BEGETS LIKE. 



crings, have a predominance of the feelings and passions which, whev 
perverted, render them violent and passionate. 

Their feelings are tender, sympathies lively — are very sensitive and 
susceptible to foreign influences and change of circumstances. They 
act upon the high pressure principle v^^Ith force and impetus. Tv^'o 




NATURAL FORM OF THE HUMAN THORAX. 



E— True Ribs. 

F— False or Floating Ribs. 

G — Vertebrae (Spinal Column y 



A — Sternum (Breast-bone). 

B— Clavicula (Collar-bone). 

C — Scapula (Shoulder-blade). 

D — Humerus (Upper Arm-bone). ] 

persons united with a predominance of this organization will be too 

impulsive — put on too much steam in proportion to their freight — are 

too easily carried away by the impressions of the moment — too little 

under the restraint of the controlling elements, and when excited are 

too warm, ardent and passionate — are too much under the influence 



LIKE BEGETS LIKE. 41 

of the feelings — may evince considerable intellect at times, but will 
have no uniform and steady mental action. 

We never see persons of this class close students ; neither do they 
have much patience or application of mind. The first thoughts are 
generally their best; they do not trouble themselves much about 
mental reflections or physiological investigations ; they lack balance 
of power ; have too much of the animal and not enough of the 
mental, and consequently act and live for present enjoyment, without 
reference to future results. 

Making an Idol of your Stomach. 

If the digestive functions (which are a part of the vital) predominate, 
then the person becomes dull, indolent, corpulent and gouty, especi- 
ally in advanced life, after having retired from active service. Children 
bom of such parents will be passionate, difficult to control, dull 
scholars, extravagant eaters, units and cipners in society, mere non- 
entities, very liable to yield to licentious and intemperate habits, to 
violate law and good order, to exert a demoralizing influence over 
others, to live and die degraded, and are too frequently very inferior 
ui intellectual and moral capacity. 

It is not well to have any of these conditions of the body developed 
in the extreme, as it will be very unfortunate, both to the parents and 
the children for two of the same extremes of organization to be» 
united, and equally so for two of the opposite extremes ; for they wilV 
labor under many inconveniences which education or effort on theii 
part cannot overcome. Their children will be imperfectly organized 
and subject to extremes ; they will always be regarded as creatures 
of circumstances and the folly of their parents. Their existence 
would, in fact, exhibit only the phenomena of vegetable life. 

The Golden M-an. 

A balance of all the temperaments is the most desirable ; and what 
one is deficient in let the other have to a sufficient degree to act as a 
counterpoise ; by this means uniformity and evenness of action ma) 



42 LIKE BEGETS LIKE. 

be inherited by your children, instead of their becoming' but second 
editions with numerous additional illustrations of their parents' original 
imperfections. 

If persons will arouse from their lethargy, ;:.nd make themselves 
thoroughly acquainted with the theory and philosophy of the tempera- 
ments, and put in practice tne knowledge so obtained, the corner- 
stone of a great social refonii ivill be laid, which must produce more 
blessings, dissipate more evils, and advance mankind toward a state 
of perfection with greater rapidity than any other measure of the day. 

Young gentlemen, or men having formed intemperate and licentious 
habits before marriage, are very liable to retain them, and should, 
therefore, receive no encouragement from the ladies. If they value 
the welfare of their family, wish to secure health and happiness in 
their union, and pay due regard to the moral improvement of society, 
they will, one and all, unite in reprobating by their actions in the most 
positive manner all tendencies of this nature. 

Follies of Dress. 

Young ladies who devote their time to leisure amusements and the 
follies that invariably attend them, should b<. regarded as entirely 
unworthy the notice of those young men who have any regard for a 
healthy and happy family. 

They are entirely unqualified to discharge the duties of a mother 
and companion in a proper manner; and it is to be hoped that 
measures will be taken which will have the effect more thoroughly to 
open the eyes of all on this important subject Do not allow your- 
selves and your "fair loved ones" to be victimized any longer, even 
if it be done in obedience to the imperious mandates of fashion, when 
that obedience renders them incapable of transmitting to posterity 
that vital energy and mental power necessary for long life oi 
distinction. 

It is true that there are many persons in society of corrupt and 
unnatural tastes, who are gratified by existing modes ; young men, 
and married men too, there arc, who encourage such fashi(;n.s and 



LIKE BEGETS LIKE. 



43 



habits; they like, forsooth, to be entertained by young ladies of 
leisure and accomplishments, who have small waists and bare 
shoulders. 

But, we would ask, who are these men? What are their char- 
acters, habits, and principles? Inquire here, and turn your investi- 
gations from the discovery of what their connections are into this 
channel. And mark the words. You will find that they are men of 
perverted passions, and generally accustomed to intemperate or licen 
tious associations. 

You will then perceive, and what emotions of shame and mortifi- 





NATURAL FORM UlsLACEl^. 



DEFORMED BY LACING. 



jation ought it to produce, that it is their animal natures and propen- 
sities which you are laboring so assiduously to please; while very 
few, indeed, are the efforts which you make to please by gratifying 
their moral and intellectual faculties. 

Let young men encourage honesty and industry, and a great change 
will be wrought in society. What a difference in our families and 
i.nildren ! What great improvement may we not reasonably expect \ 
Let things go on as they now are, and in a few centuries the result 
will be seen, and felt, too, in this country by a small, dwarfish, con- 
sumptive and incipient race of mortals— -on whom will devolve the 



44 LIKE BEGETS LIKE. 

honorable task of perpetuating the political existence, name and 
constitution of this republic. 

How are wc situated at the present time ? Why in some circles, 
and those not very limited in extent, every third woman is an invalid, 
and every sixth male also. They labor under dyspepsia, particular 
weaknesses, and many other diseases of the kind — all produced by a 
violation of physical laws. The only true means of saving this 
country from dismemberment, decreasing influence, and from being a 
nation of hospitals, is by commencing at once a great social reform. 

Society Agitated by Great Questions. 

Examine the condition of the times and see what can be foretold by 
their aspect. At what stage of the world, and at what period, as far 
back as our knowledge extends has there been a similar upturning, 
loosening and stirring up of every principle and institution, moral, 
social, political and intellectual ? Every one is beginning to inquire 
into t^e abuses, visible and invisible, with which society is pregnant. 
Every one feels an indistinct prompting for a change. All are look- 
ing from the quarter from which it must emanate. 

When has the religious world been so distracted by dissensions and 
differences of opinion ? Were there ever as many changes and inno- 
vations in theology as at the present time ? When did science unfold 
truths of greater importance and in greater profusion than at this 
moment? Have the poHtical world and the political institutions of 
the day ever been in so strange a situation as they are now ? When 
did our various systems of education differ as widely and hang as 
loosely together as they now do ? 

Overturning Old and False Systems. 

None are stamped with the character of permanency, for all seem 
aware that errors will and must be reformed. Does not everything 
appear to be hurrying into one grand reservoir, as it were, where all 
principles shall become united in one chaotic mass? Theologians, 
philosophers and politicians may, from the purest motives, do all in 




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FASHIONABLE CHURCH WEDDING-BRIDE AND BRIDEGROOM 
LEAVING THE ALTAR 



LIKE BEGE'i:^ X.IKE. 45 

their power to reduce this chaos to order, but it will be of no avail. 
The commencement, to be complete and thorough, must be made 
farther back than their peculiar spheres of action ; for all these various 
systems are mere offsets from the social circle. Political government 
originated from patriarchal authority. Education is affected materially 
by social manners and customs. And so with all other institutions — 
they proceed directly or indirectly from the family circle. 

Let the reform be commenced here, on the principles of physiology 
and health, and a gradual process of regeneration will be entered on 
that will produce the most salutory effects upon the habits, characters, 
motives and actions of all mankind. 

Parents and guardians must feel the full force of the obligations 
which rerft on them, and, in consequence, train their children for true 
happiness and usefulness. Young ladies, in particular, should be care- 
ful with whom they associate and whom they encourage — for it must 
be borne in mind that it is not every talented, wealthy or fashionable 
young man that will make the best husband and father. 

Responsibility of Marriage. 

In these matters, rest assured we cannot be too careful. The act 
of marriage is the most responsible in which we can engage, as con- 
nected with our own happiness in this life, and through us to those 
who shall exist after our death. No individual is a proper subject to 
become an agent for the transmission of soul and body to posterity 
unless he or she is free from all hereditary disease, his or her organi- 
zation sound and complete, his or her mind and body free from all 
those habits and vices which tend to weaken our powers, debase our 
feelings, and render us morally degraded, and he or she in the full, 
regular and natural exercise of all those powers and faculties which 
God, in his infinite wisdom, has so beautifully and harmoniously 
adapted to the wants of our condition. 

One sufficient, amply sufficient reason, if none others existed, why 
we should be thus particular, is because we hand down to posterity 
the qualities which we possess in the highest activity and strength. 



46 LIKE BEGETS LIKE. 

Parents are to be blamed for the natural, primitive defects of their 
children, for it is an inevitable law of nature that constitutional quali- 
ties and deficiencies are hereditary. Children are impaired, and their 
physical structures ill-balanced, from various causes in harmony with 
the varieties of organizations that become united. The marriage ot 
those who are enfeebled by age, or debilitated by disease, must be 
productive of little stamina in the offspring. 

Sin of Transmitting Disease. 

Those persons who are aware of being under the influence of a 
constitutional tendency to any disease have a moral law within theni- 
s«*lves why they should not enter into a matrimonial alliance. Look 
at some of our families ; the diseases of insanity, idiocy, consumption, 
scrofula, and a host of others, have become incorporated with them — 
regular heir-looms, transmitted from father to son, and mother to 
daughter, with far greater regularity and certainty than relics or 
property of any kind- — for they may be dissipated, lost, and destroyed, 
but the other runs throbbing through our veins, is united with our 
very system, and we become disenthralled from them only by the 
assistance of death, the great tyrant by whom all are freed. 

We could deduce illustration upon illustration which would enforce 
what is now stated, so that you could not violate the principle without 
doing your sense of right and wrong a grievous injury, from facta 
which have come under our own observation — when families have 
mourned the suicide of a grandfather, father and son, the lunacy of a 
grandmother, mother and daughter, and from families whose family 
registers of deceased members are filled with records of " died of con 
sumption." 

Evils of Marrying Near Relatives. 

Another principle that can be relied on as a cause of deterioration 
is a continuation of marriage in near relations. This course, whei) 
pursued by a few generations, produces imbecility, degeneracy, and , 
inferiority in the descendants of those who were once renowned for 
strength and vigor. 



LIKE BEGETS LIKE. 47 

Early marriages is another fruitful source of imperfection. The 
bodily powers should be developed and in full vigor. 

As agents in this great and important work, it is your duty to 
become well acquainted with these principles. If you do not, you 
prove yourselves unfaithful sei*vants ; and it is through ignorance ii: 
going contrary to the laws of nature that the world has been peopled 
with those who live a miserable existence and fill a premature grave. 

Ignorance of Hereditary Influences. 

Lay ft up in your memories, that we give to our children their bad 
heads and bodies. The Bible says, speaking of the sins of the chil- 
dren, "And your sins will I visit upon your children, and your 
children's children unto the third and fourth generations;" and you 
may rely on it, this is the w^ay the child receives the curse on his 
head and body. 

It is high time that parents should recognize their obligations to 
understand these sources of hereditary influences better than they do ; 
and mothers in particular — for if they properly understood them and 
were governed by their principles, which have for their distinct and 
only object the elevation of man towards perfection, they would do 
far more towards perfecting the human race and ridding the world of 
vice and immorality than all the benevolent and moral reform societies 
in existence. 

A Lesson from the Animal Kingdom. 

Take the admitted fact that the stronger and weaker faculties of the 
parents are transmitted to the child in similar proportions, and what 
an easy matter it would be. for us to bear in mind those particular 
qualities which would be most desired in order to give balance when 
we select our partners for life. Either there are laws, and cause and 
effect in this matter, or there are not. It is a certainty — a matter 
which can be wholly understood and advantage taken of it — or it is 
me»-e chance. 

If it can be shown to be capable of demonstration, and that fortune 
or chance does not direct it, every one must immediately admit the 



48 LIKF BEGETS LIKE. 

paramount value of these principles, and feel the necessity of acting in 
accordance with them. 

The principle is admitted in full and practiced on with eni.ienl 
success in relation to the animal kingdom, as every farmer and indi 
vidual of any practical information whatever is aware. The natures 
of animals, so far as they can be operated on by these general truths, 
are precisely similar to that of man, whence it follows they must be 
equally applicable with regard to him. 

If there be a law in these things then it is a fair inference that, in 
exact proportion as the parents are perfectly organized, physically and 
mentally, and in the full exercise of all the faculties of their mind and 
body, so will be their offspring ; and that imperfection will be the 
result in precise proportion as the parents are imperfect, defective in 
proper exercise, or fail to comply with these rules which govern all 
organic matter. 

The truth of the matter is, you might as well expect sixty or a 
hundredfold of wheat from off a barren, sterile, sandy soil, as tc 
expect perfect children from imperfect parents. 

Passions, desires, impulses and tendencies of mind, as well as 
special talents are given to the child by a special and particular exer- 
cise of these faculties in the parent. Both physical and mental quali- 
ties cease to grow or are not formed at all ; and, in other cases, they 
are doubled in size and activity in consequence of the influence or 
impressions which circumstances have had upon the mind of the 
m<ither before the birth of the child. 



CHAPTER IV. 
LovK AND Parentage. 

Cowit.'hip the Mere Alphabet of Irove— Glory of the Wife and Mother-=Sharing 
Common Joys and Sorrows — Idolized Children — Perfect I^ve and Confidence 
in Marriage — Animal Love and Moral Excellence — Wedlock's Sacred Bonds — 
Physical axid Mental Sexuality — Development of Female Charms — Blushing 
Maids — No Necessity for Female Beauty to Decline — Decay of Health — House- 
hold Drudgery — Bad Diet and Habits — Diminution of Affection in Marriage- 
Uncongenial Mates — Dying Before Yof Time. 

THOUGH love and its accompanying charms eventuate in mar- 
riage, yet they do not terminate with it. As its ultimate object 
is the propagation of the race, it should last as long as we are 
capable either of being parents or exerting an influence on the char- 
acter of our offspring ; in other words, it should last cis ^ong as life. 
Its waning with the honeymoon would be Hke autumn supervening 
directly upon spring before the happy pair had tasted the luxuries o( 
summer or feasted upon the golden fruits of autumn. 

Courtship is but the mere alphabet of love and the wedding season 
its first lesson. When properly placed, love's natural tendency is to 
increase with years, nor ever to diminish till age impairs both it and 
all our other faculties together. The blushing bride, though all dis- 
-^olved in the melting tenderness of gushing affection, does not, can- 
not, love equally with the middle-aged wife, or even the declining 
matron. She has not yet tasted the virtues or tasted the perfection 
of her beau ideal. 

It is only after years of the continual interchange of reciprocated 
kindness and sentiments between husbands and wives — after they have 
Ascended together the hills of prosperity and, perhaps, travelled the 
vale of adversity till they have thoroughly tried each other's souls, 
and called forth their mutual spirit of self-sacrifice ; perhaps not till 
they have watched over each other when prostrate by sickness, and 
4 49 



60 LOVE AND PARENTAGE. 

reciprocated a constant succession of endearing offices of kindness 
and tokens of love — above all, not till they have become parents 
together — that they can be completely enamored of each other ; 
because it is her maternal relations which most of all endeat the wife 
to her husband, besides making her love him inexpressibly the more 
for being the father of her idolized children. 

True Love Lasts a Lifetime. 

Perfect love also requires that perfect confidence which nothing can 
establish but those fullest and most diversified tests which married life 
alone can furnish. Mistaken they who suppose that y^.ars naturally 
weaken love. Animal iove they may weaken ; but that blending of 
soul, that love of moral excellence which constitutes love's crowning 
perfection, and even quintessence, grows slowly, matures gradually, 
and reaches its zenith only after the fierce fires of youthful passion 
have given place to the live coals of mature or declining age. Matri- 
mony is the very garden and paradise of love, and, therefore, every 
way calculated constitutionally to strengthen and perfect it, and 
thereby augment its every charm and sweet. 

With this the experience of few may coincide, beca?ase so few 
husbands and wives cordially and completely love each other ; but, 
chosen and blessed of God this happy few! Yours is the sweet cup 
that never sates ; yours the dainty luxury that never cloys, but only 
increases your relish while it feasts your souls perpetually on its 
delicious bounties ! Ye who have lived affectionately in wedlock's 
sacred bonds for a score or so of years can bear testimony to this. 
The fact that the experience of so few harmonizes with this blessed 
reality, only shows how few truly love. Ye, then, who have your die 
yet to cast, cast it in view of this principle. 

To perceive how wedlock continues to improve the agreeableness o; 
man is easy ; because by drinking in continually those softening, 
refining, elevating, and enobling influences exerted upon him perpetu- 
ally by a good wife, he becomes more polished, and of a better 
disposition day by day, and year after year, till all his powers arc 



LOVE AND PARENTAGE. 51 

bcdimmed by age or eclipsed by death. Much more is this true of 
woma] 

Ha] vvcwiock constitutionally develops both that physical and 
menta rxuaiity which imparts these finishing touches of perfection 
to her grace and elegance of manner, her sweet smiles, fascinating 
looks, ix L^uisite intonations, beauty of expression, and which, in shorty 
heightens every charm and perfection of the female character. By 
imbuing her whole soul with 'ove for the masculine in her husband, 
because it so indescriably exalts her happiness, it makes her prize his 
sex in proportion as she loves him ; and this arrays her in all hei 
charms as a means of rendering herself agreeable. 

The Married Woman. 

Nor is this in the least improper. It is the nature and highest 
happiness, as well as the main constituent element of the wife and 
mother, both of which it perfects. Properly to kno\/ .nan in the 
person of her husband develops the feminine, and thereby augments 
every female charm and perfection, because it calls out and fulfils her 
whole nature. But the maiden has exercised only a part of her 
nature, nor that the most important. She has not yet fulfilled its great 
duty and destiny, and hence she is below the wife and matron. 

Not that she should be underrated, but, bashful and blushing, sh« 
labors under perpetual restraint, which marriage removes. Sweety 
lovely, is the blushing maid and the blooming bride ; sweeter still, 
more lovely far, the full-blown matron. Let others sip the nectar ol 
female loveliness as it gushes from the handsome features, lovely 
looks, graceful motions, fascinating smiles and enchanting conversa- 
tion of maiden purity and undeveloped love ; but let us commune 
with married woman. Give us the well-developed wife and mother, 
whether for elegance of manners, exquisite tenderness and flexibility 
jof voice, ease and propriety commingled with freedom of conversa- 
tion and those practical lessons of experimental wisdom which flow 
perpetually from the lips. 

We admire the maiden, but we almost worship the matron, apd 



62 LOVE AND PARENTAGE. 

gather more information, as well as derive more pleasure, from an 
hour's conversation ^ith the wife of forty than from weeks of chit- 
chat with the simpering belle of eighteen. The latter is only just 
beginning to put on her fair, but yet immature, forms and rich colors, 
while the former is fully ripened, her form filled out and perfected, her 
colors enriched and variegated and their flavor most delicious- — every 
Hement being completely consummated. 

Marriage and Female Beauty 

But the opinion prevails almost universally that married life neces- 
Siirily diminishes female beauty. The fact is admitted. Its necessity 
is questionable. One of its efficient causes consists in the loss of 
health generally consequent on marriage. Both the exercise and 
::;xpression of love and all its charms expend that vitality which health 
alone imparts, and thereby enfeebles love itself, and that power by 
which alone it can manifesi; itself and its charms, besides furrowing 
and fading the cheek of beauty, emaciating the form, substituting the 
trowns and scowls consequent on pain for the brisk and happy expres- 
sion of health — bedimming the otherwise sparkling eye and weaken- 
ing and perverting and depraving ah the faculties. 

Hence the female invalid ceases to throw that interest, animation, 
expressiveness, soul, into her looks, action, conversation, etc., which 
health would enable her to put forth and impart, while disease, by 
rendering her looks more or less haggard and ghastly, and 
her intonations sorrowful or hackled, makes that repulsive which 
health would render charming. How much an animated walk, or 
ride, or frolic promotes circulation, heightens color and expression, 
and augments the whole collection of woman's charms, simply by 
rallying those animal energies which manifest both her love and her 
loveliness ; and what this does for beauty temporarily health does per. 
manently. 

That the matrimonial, and especially maternal, relations require and 
consume a great amount of those vital energies is a fact attested by 
tne experience an^ observation of all married womcn^ maternal duties 




A MOTHER'S CARE AND AFFECTION 




"THK COURSE OK TRUH hOVH ^UVF,K DID RUN SMOOTH 




A MIND SERENE FOR CONTEMPLATION." 




WITH THEE CONVERSING I FORGET ALL TIME, 

ALL SEASONS AND THEIR CHANGE-ALL PLEASE ALIKE. 



Milton 



LOVE AND PARENTAGE, 53 

being so particularly exhausting that few retain strength sufficient to 
resupply the immense drain, and fewer still know how, at this period, 
to economize what little they have, so as to save their constitutions 
from utter ruin. 

Hence women die by thousands after having borne two or three 
children, and most of those that survive become feeble or invalid, and 
therefore lose their charms. Still there is nothing in the relations ol 
the wife or mother necessarily injurious to either health or beauty, 
provided woman has a good constitution, and then obeys the laws of 
life and health. On the contrary, all these relations are directly 
calculated to promote health and enhance beauty, for never is woman 
inore attractive in the eyes of her husband and of man than when 
fulfilling the maternal relations. 

How the Constitution is Broken Down. 

But the cares, and too often the drudgery of the family, her almost 
perpetual confinement within doors, her seeing so little company, and, 
above all, the miserable dietetic and other habits — the worst possible 
for health — of most women, together with other similar causes, too 
numerous to mention, break down the constitutions of wives and 
mothers, efface their beauty, and hasten them and their charms into 
premature graves. 

Ye wives and daughters of loveliness, therefore, who would pre- 
serve or regain your charms, preserve or regain your health, so that 
coming years shall only enhance your beauty and feed the fires ot 
love with new fuel continually, so that its flames shall grow brighter 
and warmer as life's happy months fly swiftly on, till maturer years 
shall crown you with a husband's whole-souled love and a mother's 
glory, or fitted for immortality, green old age shall fold you up, leaf 
by leaf, preparatory to that angelic bloom which fadeth not forever I 
And ye husbands who will, can preserve, in still increasing freshness, 
:hose very charms which first swelled your bosom with emotions of 
""endemess and love. 

'^he diminution of affection too often consequent on marriage still 



54 LOVE AND PARENTAGE, 

more effectually blights both the charms and the soul of woman. In 
many cases the wife is less beloved than was the sweetheart ; and 
nothing will fade the cheek of beauty, harrow the once lovely face 
with wrinkles, relax the elastic motion, cause the sprightly step to 
falter, and becloud or obscure all traces of female beauty so rapidly 
or effectually as the loss, or even diminution, of a husband's affections. 

Escape her practiced eye, her quick-catching ear they never can^ 
but will waken all her fears, blast her hopes, bli^s:ht all her pleasures, 
necessarily and always. Nor need we wonder. Her all is at stake — - 
embarked for life. That lost, all is lost beyond recovery, and she 
compelled to go down to her grave mourning ! Nor is it possible to 
comfc't her. Say, ye blasted flow^^'s of former fragrance and loveli- 
ness—care-worn, dispirited, heediess even of life, and preferring death 
to a life so completely miserable — what canker-worm is that which 
preys perpetuc'^y upon your inmost souls? Answer ye not? 

Nor need ye renew your griefs by recounting their cause, for they 
are written in doleful characters upon your furrowed brow, and 
inscribed in plaintive and forlorn notes upon your every intonation ! 
Ye have married, but not congenially ! The cooing dove has lost its 
wonted mate! Happy if only lost! Strayed to another perhaps' 
Alienated! Your souls transfixed with many sorrows! Your life so 
changed from expectation's happy dreams! And all this but the 
mere beginning of sorrow! No wonder that your beauty fades, thai 
you drag out a miserable er-dstence while you live, and die before 
your time. 



CHAPTER V. 
IMPORTANT Truths for the Newly Married. 

Self-Improvement — Promoting Happiness — Conjugal Attentions — Cultivating Lore 
'-Remedy for Discords — Consecration, Each to the Other — L/Ove's Little 
Indulgences — Wlv^es and Money — Expressing Affection — Love no longer 
Mentioned— Billing and Cooing — Manly Husbands — Devoted Wives — Animjrt 
Passion — First Great Business — Cold Indiflference — Reasons of Infidelity — 
Highest Human Duty — Contentment Better than Dollars — Paralysis of the 
Affections — Starved Hearts. 

BOTH improve yourselves. Love must progress ; which requires 
either the culture or discernment of new lovable qualities. For 
your own and each other's sakes each should improve daily. 
On her husband's return from business every wife should show some 
new work begun, or old one advanced ; a new piece of music com- 
menced, or prior one perfected ; some new head work, hand work or 
heart work, with which to redelight him ; while he must be able to 
•' report progress " in whatever he engages, and especially in himself. 
How delightful to both to see this improvement in the other ; how 
painful their decline ? 

Personal effort is its great instrumentality. Passivity forestalls pro- 
gress. Only active participancy can avail. Though a husband's 
pi^aise may inspire a wife to effort, yet only she can put her own hands 
to the plough ; and so of him. Each can tone up the other's will, 
but ** the gods help only those who help themselves." We expect 
improvement in all we possess, much more in a partner. The decline 
of either after marriage grossly wrongs the other. Begin here now 
and redouble the other's love by rendering yourselves daily the more 
lovable and worthy. 

Love seeks the happiness of its object as uniformly as water its 
level and light diffusion. Kindness accompanies love as surely as 
gravity matter, and always augments it. While it is due from all to 
ail, even beasts, and doub'y between the sexes, yet love augments it 

55 



56 TRUTHS FOR THE NEWLY MARRIED. 

as sun warmth. Let all who ever love attest whether desire to make 
the loved one happy was not your paramount instinct. 

Since genuine gallants are naturally attentive to ladies, never wait- 
ing to be asked to do this and not that, but anticipating and supplying 
their wants, and lovers more so, how much more a loving husband 
those of his idolized wife? He will early learn just what she likes 
and dislikes, and provide the one, avoid the other. Indeed, kindness 

nature's great means of expressing and awakening love. 

Example of Marital Kindness. 

A septuagenarian Quaker, visiting, when taking leave, requested 
Deborah to be at the door in about five minutes. Arrived, he turned 
the carriage-wheels so as to facilitate her ingress, half clasped her in 
his arms, half lifted her in, and going all around tucked in buffalo-robe 
and blanket tightly around her feet with the utmost tenderness as if 
she were his choicest jewel. 

Will not the loving husband treat his precious wife as his darling 
pet, his idol, his other self, the mother of his angel children, the 
partner of all his joys and sorrows, and as though nothing he could 
do for her were good enough, and by perpetual attentions at table, in 
parlor, nursery, boudoir, and especially in company, both manifest his 
'ove for her and r'^-'^nkindlc hers for him ? 

Such treatment is your duty. Your conjugal relations absolutely 
require and demand it! As the inherent dependence of a helpless 
child on parents oblisrat.es them to provide for its creature comforts, 
so a like dependence of a wife on her husband imposes on him a like 
moral duty. He who docs not fulfil it perpetrates a sin of omissiorr 
igainst her. 

A married pair may be kind without loving. He may support her 
in style, furnish her plenty of money, even gratify her very whims, 
and she do everything kindly, without loving ; but they can no more 
love without being kind than live without breath ; and their mutual 
tenderness waxes and wanes with their affections. The more they 
love, the more their kindness overflows in all th ir minutest actions 



TRUTHS FOR THE NEWLY MARRIED. 67 

and feelings towards each other. Love's eyes, Hps, hands and heart 
are brimful of desire to make each other just as happy as possible , 
always saying, ** Please let me do this and that for you." Neither 
can make self a tithe as happy as each can the other. 

Mutual Happiness. 

A loving wife can render her husband, and he her, ten times 
happier than either can possibly render themselves. How infinitely 
and perfectly adapted are all the details of the conjugal state to this 
promotion of the other's enjoyment, and thereby their own! As 
•*it is more blessed to give than receive," even from strangers, how 
infinitely more so to and from one beloved! No human luxury at all 
equals this. 

Happiness is the natural aliment of love. That of each is in the 
exact ratio of the happiness conferred by the other. Hence, exactly 
in proportion as a wife renders her husband happy, does she thereby 
compel him to love her. He cannot help himself, and will not desire 
to, but is "led a willing captive." Exactly in proportion as he 
renders her happy, does he thereby oblige her to love him and seek 
his pleasure. Every thrill either occasions the other, redoubles the 
other's love; and every twinge of pain either gives the other, 
engenders dislike. 

These results are as absolute and certain as those of gravity, 
because equally governed by a first natural law. Thus, if your wife 
makes you happy three, or five, in the scale of seven, she thereby 
compels you to love her three, or five ; whereas, if she makes you 
miserable three, or five, she thus compels you to hate her three, or 
five. Or if she makes you happy five, but miserable three, you love 
her five, but hate her three ; whereas, if she renders you happy three, 
but miserable five, she obliges you to hate her five, but love her 
only three. 

So she who makes husband perfectly miserable, without any happi- 
ness, engenders perfect hatred ; whereas, she who makes him perfectly 
h^ppy. without any alloy or misery, thereby rendqr$ his love absolutely 



58 TRUTHS FOR THE NEWLY MARRIED. 

perfect. Nature's maLhematical equations are no more absolutely 
infallible than are these her love equations. No will-power of either 
can prevent these results, any more than smarting at the touch of 
fire. Please, husbands and wives, learn from the principle here 
involved both the one generic cause and remedy of most conjugal dis 
cords and means of redoubling each other's love to any desired extent. 
Some pairs can live neither together nor apart, because certain 
characteristics of each render the other so happy as involuntarily tc 
draw them together, and others so miserable that they cannot stay 
together, and hence quarrel and separate to-day, only to come 
together and make up to-morrow, which they perpetually repeat. 
The only true way for each to secure merely their own happiness is 
to devote themselves to that of their companion. This is wedlock, and 
rewards itself. 

The Service of the Heart. 

Which should serve ? The one who loves the most will take the 
greatest delight in doing the most to promote the other's happiness. 
Among savages, woman is man's slave ; but as humanity rises, the 
man treats the woman with more and still more tenderness. 

Mating should consist in the self-consecration of each to the happi- 
ness of the other. Let each live not at all for self, but for the other. 
All that each can do to promote the creature comforts of the other, by 
indulging each other in dress, taste, appetite, fancies, even whims, any- 
thing, everything which gives the other pleasure, reacts for the giver. 
Yet many husbands deny, instead of indulging, their wives. Is not 
indulgence affection's greatest privilege ? Does a doting grandfather 
ever deny his darling grandson, even in trifles? What if he sees that 
the boy is *• pleased with a rattle and tickled with a straw," he gives 
rattle and straw, not with, " You fool, to want such trifles ! " but as 
if delighted to see him enjoy them. 

Indulging a wife in some trifle often makes her inexpressibly happy, 
fond, and kind in return ; whereas, denying her some little thing, 
sours and spoils her throughout. Husbands, by all means, humor 
even their whims. 



TRUTHS FOR THE NEWLY MARRIED- 59 

Herein consists your own greatest life-luxury. That millionaire 
husband who takes all the pleasure he can in recounting his millions, 
adding thereto, and sating all his other desires, is a poor, unfortunate, 
happiness -wrecked mortal, if he either has no wife on whom to lavish 
these little, hourly, momentary courtesies, or else is too much alienated 
ro proffer them, except with a grudge, and may envy that laboring 
man who finds his own highest happiness in toiling for that woman 
who is nursing and rearing their darlings. 

The Richest Luxury. 

It requires a loving wife, in addition to dollars, to render a man 
happy. Of all the luxuries permitted to mortal rr.an, those of a well- 
sexed and loving as rVell as beloved husband which are derived from 
promoting the happiness of his dear wife, are richest. Talk about 
luxury without this, and you talk nonsense. Have all other luxuries 
but this, you have only trash. Have this, it hardly matters how few 
besides, and you have ** all things added thereunto." Yet you must 
do not for another man's wife, or everybody s, but for your own. 

The expression of every faculty enkindles the same one in those 
around. Anger in man and beast always provokes anger. Revivals 
of religion proceed on this principle, and are caused by worship in one 
or more, eliciting a like devout feeling in others. Laughter awakens 
laughter , thought, thought ; taste, taste ; music, music ; and thus of 
every other human function. Nothing can equally intensify the action 
of each and all the faculties. 

This principle applies to love, and can be employed to elicit it to 
almost any desired extent. 

Courtship and Its Influence. 

All courtships provoke love by its expression. No known means 
of promoting affection equals that of declaration. One cannot feel 
love without showing it by words and deeds, which reincrease by 
redeiighting. How simple a means of its promotion ! while omitting 
to express it leaves its fire^ unsupplied by fuel. How intensely pleas- 



60 TRUTHS FOR THE NEWLY MARRIED. 

urable is its first full declaration ! And yet most, after having declared 
their affection, stow it away among the sacred archives of the past, 
rarely to be repeated. Each feels love, yet doubts that of the other, 
virtually arguing, '' If she really loved me, she would show it." "He 
kissed me when he loved me, but has stopped kissing, because he has 
stopped loving." 

Many hard feelings, or open ** spats," have occurred, and have been 
mutually o^^erlooked since its first declaration ; yet as neither has 
expressed much since, both infer that the other's has ceased, which 
chills that of each, till both settle back into apparent indifference. 
They took lovers' walks once, take none now. They were talkative 
then, are now demure. They part and meet many times per day, go 
out, come in, retire, and rise, without one loving word ; and though 
kind enough, friendly enough, and all that, yet both seem as perfectly 
indifferent to each other as if unsexed. What each desires is done 
freely enough, but without any expressions of tenderness. 

How Young Lovers Act. 

They can and do talk freely enough on all other subjects, but never 
one word about their love. They eat, work, and go to church 
together ; but if either should impress a genuine, hearty love-kiss upon 
the other's cheek, the kissed one would be as perfectly amazed as if a 
clap of thunder had startled them on a cloudless day. And yet both, 
at the core of their hearts, really do love each other, though, like 
buried fire, no ** sparks " or heat come to the surface. And thus their 
love smoulders on, and often out. How many such ! Why ? 
Because both neglect to supply the other's love with its indispensable 
fuel, have burned out their first, buried its fires under its own ashes, 
and just live along, neither hot nor cold, dead nor alive. 

** Must the married be always billing and cooing ? " you say 
*' This may be tolerated in young lovers, and during the honeymoon, 
but is perfectly sickening, if not indelicate, even immodest, between 
the married, except in private. Besides, those who appear so loving 
before folks always quarrel behind the curtain." 




A PROMENADE AT THE OPERA 




A SONG OF THE HEART. 




THB I^OVKR'S AFIvOAT 







DREAMING THE HAPPY HOURS AWAY." 



TRUTHS FOR THE NEWLY MARRIED, 



61 



Woman is love's umpire. Hence, if she wants to be made love to, 
the man who has a right to Lihould make it. If she wishes to caress 
and be caressed, he should help, not hinder her. She is the more lov- 
ing ; then should not man pattern after her and follow suit ? A 
normally-sexed woman loves to be loved and caressed by him who 
has her heart, and ** that before folks," except that custom frowns 
thereon. Women, tell the world in general, and your own husbands in 
Special, just how you desire them to comport themselves towards you. 

The married should love each other just as young lovers do, only 




THE NATURAL EXPRESSION OF LOVE. 

4s much more as they are older. Then, whatever it is proper to feel 
it is equally proper to manifest ** before folks." 

It is manly for a man to love his wife. He was created a man 
expressly for this. Then is it not as manly to express this 1 ve, and 
equally feminine in her both to tenderly love her husband and mani- 
fest her outgushing tenderness ? Is love loathsome, that it must be 
stifled? It is the purest of emotions. Only when it is perverted is it 
indelicate. And if husbands and wives would but manifest more love 
in purity, they would experience far less of its animal aspect. These 
y^oung lovers are true to the mating instinct ; but discontinuing these 



62 



TRUTHS FOR THE xnTEWLY MARRIED. 



attentions proclaims the paralysis of love ; for they can no more help 
this its natural language and manner, in proportion as they love, than 
help laughing when merry or shivering when cold. But the real 
trouble lies here. 



LfOving Courtesies in Private and Public. 

Love becomes carnalized soon after marriage and, therefore, from 
mere shame of its own deformity, shuns public gaze. The purer and 
stronger it is, the more gushingly and frankly does it express itself, 
** in season and out of season, at home and abroad, alone and before 
beholders," because inherently conscious of its innocence and appro- 
priateness. And if husbands and wives would manifest much more 
of these loving courtesies before others, they would both inexpressibly 
enhance its Platonic form and diminish its animal manifestations. 
Woman, what say you to this change ? 

Husbands and wives, make recherishing each other's affections your 
very first life-business, and let your past remissness only render you 
the more assiduous hereafter. You certainly ought to know by this 
time how to rewaken each other's deadened affections. Think over just 
how you would proceed if, to-day unmarried, you had found a con- 
jugal mate exactly to your liking, and we^ trying in your best style 
to gain his or her heart and hand, and pr ctice accordingly in respect 
to each other. =* 

Begin by talking over with each other the desirableness of this 
change and best mode of effecting it. Put it on an intellectual base. 
Read over this chapter together, and both vie with each other in 
getting up a new love affair between yourselves, each making your- 
selves as lovely to the other as possible. Take lovers' walks, talks, 
and rides ; be happy together, and treat each other just as you used 
to in your young love, and as you now see young lovers. 

Indifferent or repellent conjugal manners are odious. Lion and 
lioness, tiger and tigress, are never indifferent, much less spiteful, 
towards each other. Notwithstanding all their native ferocity, all is 
kindness and gentleness towards each other. Not one hostile or even 



TRUTHS FOR THE NEWLY MARRIED. 63 

mdififerent animal pair is found, except among human brutes — who, 
when antagonistic, are as much more brutal than savage beasts, as 
man should be a higher sample of conjugality than animal. Ever>' 
woman whose husband is indifferent, is entitled by nature's laws to a 
divorce, is divorced practically; for this indifference ''puts her away," 
while her indifference towards him is virtual abandonment 

Blighting Effects of Neglect. 

VThat ergot is to grain and poison to food, conjugal neglect or 
coldness is to true conjugality ; but what r'ch, luscious fruit is to eye 
and taste, are these turtle-dove billings and cooings to love — its very 
nature, embodiment, and great promoter. To reciprocate it, woman 
was made feminine and charming^ 

Indifference causes alienations and infidelities. After love has beer. 
once awakened, it must continue or starv^e. It should be directed tc 
its first object, but becoming estr-^nged from it, must seek another oi 
perish. This law explains Mrs. Gurney's sad fall. Her parliamen 
tary husband, though kind to tier and regaling her with country and 
city pleasures ad libitum^ was too busy to lavish on her those little 
attentions so agreeable to woman ?ind promot'.'vre of love, which, 
bestowed by her groom, f.,-jmpletely fascinated her and mduced her 
to abandon husband, family^ position, everything dear to her, that she 
might revel in those little gillantries which, ii they had been supplied 
from their legitimate source, would doubtless have had no charms for 
her from a lower quarter. 

Strongest of Human Ties. 

Conjugal duties are more obHgatory than pecuniary, benevolent, 
^neighborly, or filial. As those who solemnly promise to pay promptly 
for goods delivered are bound faithfully to fulfil, so when a woman 
has delivered her whole being to a man, under his solemn promises, 
implied and expressed in secret and public, that he will repay her in and 
by bestowing his own on her, does not every human obligation demand 
his fulfilment of his vow to '' love and cherish her till parted by death? '* 



64 TRUTHS FOR THE NEWLY MARRIED. 

VVnat human duties are as strong or lasting ? Does a monetary pro* 
test disgrace you a tithe as much as a woman's love-protest. 

True, your creditoi requires his pay much ; but your wife needs hei 
heart-pay most. He would be injured, perhaps made a bankrupt, by 
your non-payment ; but will not your non-payment to her render her 
a lOve-bankrupt for life ? He might recover, she neVer can. Your 
love renders her a thousand-fold happier, and is more necessary to 
her whole future life, than ycur dollars to him. It is her all. When 
it perishes, all perishes. Or, if she survives, her life is only automatic. 
What infinite damage your non-payment of this heart-debt does her ! 

Besides, law, ** society," and the very nature of love, prevent her 
gel-ting its adequate supply except from you. It is as much a part of 
her soul-being as her heart is of her body, and this want is as 
imperious. 

Returning Good for Evil. 

Man is oftenest absorbed in business, woman in dress and display, 
or, perhaps, gives as much of her time and soul to children as he of 
his to business, and as little of hers to him as he of his to her ; yet 
two wrongs never make a right, but together, aggravate each other. 
The more remiss either is, the more assiduous the other should be. 
To return neglect for neglect is to return '' evil for evil." The golden 
rule, " return good for evil," or love for indifference, is better. Nearly 
all can thereby be melted down in this affectional crucible. At least, 
woman should do her best to retain those loving ways and manners 
by which she first drew forth a husband's love, and those who are 
loved least should try hardest. 

The paralytic state of the affections in one or both often leaves them 
oblivious to many conjugal excellences which ought to awaken both 
gratitude and love, just as a paralyzed stomach fails to appreciate 
dainties. Is it not the duty of each to appreciate and love what is 
lovable in the other ? And the one who fails soon ceases to manifest 
lovely qualities. Probably no human faculty is as dormant, suffers as 
much from paralysis, is as imperfectly developed, or as often and 
effectually retro verted, as love. 



PART II. 

The Human Pelvis and Organs 
OF Generation 

CHAPTER VI. 
Structure of the Pelvis. 

Meaning of the Term Pelvis — Natural Form and Dimensiors — The Brim— The 
Cavity — Position in Regard to the Trunk of the Body- —How the Womb is 
Supported — Separation of Boner, During Childuirth — I^cosening of Ligaments 
— Male andFemale Pelvis Compared — Bones of the Ma\e Harder Thau in the 
Female — Deformities of the Pelvis — How Distortions are Produced. 

THE term pelvis is applied to that mass of bones which, placed at 
the bottom of the spinal column, and restk^g on the inferior 
extremities, connect the thighs with the upper part v^f the 
trunk. V-^hen divested of its soft structures this organ somewhat 
resembles a basin, and hence its name ; for the Greeks ca'led it by a 
name signifying a wooden utensil of bowl-form, used for domestic 
purposes ; the Latins from them derived the word pelvis, w^hich we 
have adopted. In many of the older anatomical works it is described 
as "the basin," but all the recent authors have preferred the more 
classical appellation of pelvis. 

Form and Dimensions of the Pelvis. 

When we examine the pelvis with reference to childbirth we must 
attend not only to its figure but also to its dimensions, and the bear- 
ings which its axes hold in regard to each other and to the trunk of 
the body. We observe that it is formed on the principle of the double 
arch, which structure in architecture possesses the greatest possible 
degree of firmness that can be devised for the quantity of material 
6 65 



66 



THE PELVIS AND ORGANS OF GENERATION. 



employed. So that the pelvis combines, to an eminent extent, the 
qualities of strength and lightness. 

In demonstrating the shape and size of the female pelvis, it is the 
custom not to describe any particular specimen which we may happen 
to possess, but to assume a model of perfection, which we consider 
.standard ; so symmetrically formed, as w ould most completely answer 
all the intentions that nature has assigned to it. 

The brim, somewhat oval in shape, has necessarily two diameters — = 
the longest from side to side — ^the shortest in the centre from before 




THE MALE PELVIS. 

backwards. The regularity of the oval is broken so that the outline 
represents, in some measure, the heart as painted upon playing cards. 
But this resemblance is stronger in the male than in the pelvis of the 
opposite sex, because the longest diameter in the male pelvis is from 
top to bottom, while in the female it is laterally, or from side to side. 
The cavity is observed to be deep behind, shallow in front ; and it 
becomes gradually shallower as we traverse from the back to the fore 
part. The greatest depth should be from five inches and a half t<7 
gix inches, and at the side three inches and a half. 



THE PELVIS AND ORGANS OF GENERATION. 



67 



The position of the pelvis in regard to the trunk of the body is 
neither perpendicular to the horizon, nor horizontal, but oblique. It 
is thus that the uterus or womb is supported during the latter months 
of pregnancy. Were the axes of the trunk and pelvic entrance in the 
same line, owing to the upright position of the human female, the 
womb, towards the close of gestation, would gravitate low into the 
pelvis, and produce most injurious pressure on the contained viscera ; 
while, in the early months, not only would the same distressful incon- 
venience be occasioned, but there would be great danger of its pro- 




THE FEMALE PELVIS. 

truding externally, and appearing as a tumor between the thighs, 
covered by the inverted vagina (passage to the womb). 

It was for many centuries the prevalent opinion that the bones oi 
the pelvis always separated — or were disposed to separate, if occasion 
required it — during parturition (childbirth), and that they thus allowed 
the pelvic dimensions to be increased in every direction. This idea 
was rendered more probable by analogy ; for it is said that in some 
animals, as the cow, the bones are absolutely disunited to some 
extent, and that the sinking of the sacrum, occasioned by its own 



68 THE PELVIS AND ORGANS OF GENERATION. 

weight and by the softened condition of the ligaments, together with 
a difficulty in progressive motion, is an indication of the near approach 
of parturition. Such a separation may possibly take place in the 
lower animals, but it is certainly not usual in the human subject. 

Derangement of the Bones and Ligaments. 

The joints are liable, indeed, to inflammation ; and pus being 
secreted between the bones may occasion disunion — a disease attended 
with high constitutional excitement, and no small danger. Some- 
times, also, an actual separation of the bones occurs, both during 
pregnancy and after labor, from simple relaxation of the ligaments ; 
which state gives rise to pain in the part deranged, and an inability to 
walk or stand without artificial support. This affection, though not 
attended with so much suffering or hazard as acute inflammation, is 
nevertheless of a very distressing character, and very difficult of cure, 
commonly confining the patient to bed or the sofa for many months. 

But it would be travelling too far out of the limits of this publica- 
tion to enter minutely into the history of these diseases ; and it is suf- 
ficient for our present purpose to know that, in the great majority of 
cases, there is no sensible relaxation of the pubic or sacro-iliac liga- 
ments ; that in others a softening does occur in various degrees, and 
that, when that change reaches such a point as to be attended with 
pain or inconvenience, it must be considered as morbid. 

Differences Between the Male and Female Pelvis. 

On comparing the male and female pelvis together, we cannot but 
remark a striking difference in the general appearance and particular 
proportions of this organ in the two sexes. We observe that the 
pelvis of the female is altogether larger and more delicately shaped 
than that of the male. The brim is differently shaped; the long 
diameter in the female being from side to side; in the male from 
before backwards. 

The cavity is considerably smaller in the male, deeper, more of a 
funnel shape. The outlet is also far less capacious. The arch of the 




THE UTERUS (wOMB) WITH VAGINA LAID OPEN. 

a, b. Section of peritoneum, d. Os uteri (mouth of the womb). 
f, e^ e. Fold of peritoneum, f^f. Round ligament of womb, g^ g. Fal- 
lopian tubes, h. Fringed extremity of Fallopian tube, i i. Ovaries. 
k. Vagina. 



THE PELVIS AND ORGANS OF GENERATION. 



6& 



pubes is formed more angularly than in the female, in whom this part 
approaches nearer to the perfection of an arch. All the bones of the 
male skeletons are firmer and heavier than they are in the female, and 
more powerfully marked by those irregularities which indicate mus- 
cular attachments. 

Deformity of the Pelvis. 

Fortunate would it be for child-bearing women if they each pos- 
sessed a pelvis of the standard figure and dimensions. Such, however^ 
is by no means the case ; and this organ is subject to great varieties, 




A DEFORMED PELVIS. 

as well in form as size. It w^ould, indeed, be difficult to select from 
all the preserved specimens in existence, any two which exactly 
resemble each other — agreeing minutely in shape, dimensions and 
weight. Many are found to be much above the ordinary volume and 
numbers, on the other hand, greatly below it. 

The want of due capacity sometimes originates in natural formation; 
thus, a woman of short stature, although of tolerable symmetry, might 
be expected to possess a diminutive pelvis ; but this is far from being 
universal, or even a general remark. Again, the re-union of the 
bones after fractures will commonly occasion both distortion and con- 



70 THE PELVIS AND ORGANS OF GENERATION. 

traction of space ; but when there exists a deficiency of room to any 
great extent, the irregularity is mostly dependent on disease of the 
bones themselves. 

If we look at the head of the child, and the cavity through which 
it has to traverse, in a mechanical point of view (which we must do 
before we can arrive at a correct knowledge of the process of partur- 
ition, even in the simplest and most easy state), we shall immediately 
perceive that size, as regards the head and the pelvis, is entirely a 
relative term, and that a pelvis preternaturally small, or a head 
unusually large, will each in practice occasion difficulty in the same 
degree as they deviate from the standard dimensions ; so that it 
matters little whether the disproportion be the consequence of diseased 
action or any other cause ; provided it exists, to a certain extent, it 
must necessarily be productive of a protracted struggle. 

There are two diseases particularly, through which the pelvis suffers 
considerable deterioration in size — rachitis, or rickets, a disorder of 
childhood, and mollities ossium or malacosteon (softening of the bones), 
one of adult age. In both these affections there is a want of due 
solidity in the osseous system throughout the whole body. The 
animal matter entering into the composition of the skeleton being in 
great excess, and the earthy matter in proportionate deficiency, the 
bones yield like softened wax; the regularity and beauty of the pelvic 
form, as well as of other bony cavities, is destroyed, and miserable 
specimens of distortion are the result. 



CHAPTER VII. 
Genital Organs of the Female. 

The Mons Veneris — The Labia, or Lips— The Vulva — The Clitoris — The Nymphae— 
Vagina, or Canal Extending to the Uterus — The Sphincter — The Hymen and 
its Situation — Uterus, or Womb — Fallopian Tubes — Mouth of the Uterus — In- 
ternal Cavity — Mucous Membrane — Arteries, Veins and Nerves — The Liga- 
ments — Structure of the Ovaries — OvasacD, or Graafian Vesicles — Vesicles in 
the Foetus — Nerves of the Ovaries. 

THE genital organs of the male effect fewer functions than those 
of the female. They serve for copulation and fecundation only. 
Those of the female — in addition to parts which fulfil these 
offices — comprise others for gestation and lactation (suckling). 

The soft and prominent covering to the symphysis pubis — which is 
formed by the common integument, elevated by fat, and, at the age 
of puberty, covered by hair, formerly termed tressoria — is called tnons 
veneris. The absence of this hair has, by the vulgar, been esteemed a 
matter of reproach ; and it was formerly the custom, when a female 
had been detected a third time in incontinent practices, in the vicinity 
of the Superior Courts of Westminster, to punish the offence by 
cutting off the tressoria in open court. 

Below this are the labia pitdendi or labia majora, which are two 
large, soft lips, formed by a duplicature of the common integument, 
with adipose matter interposed. The inner surface is smooth and 
studded with sebaceous follicles. The labia commence at the sym- 
physis pubis, descend to the perineum, which is the portion of 
the integument, about an inch and a half in length, between the 
posterior commissure of the labia and the anus. 

The opening between the labia is the vulva or fossa magna. At 
the upper junction of the labia and within them, a small organ exists, 
called clitoris. It is formed of corpora cavernosa, and is terminated 
anteriorly by the glans, which is covered by a prepuce consisting of a 
prolongation of the mucous membrane of the vagina. 

n 



72 GENITAL ORGANS OF THE FEMALE. 

Extending from the prepuce of the clitoris, and within the labia 
majora, are the labia minora or nymphcB, the organization of which is 
similar to that of the labia rftajora. They enlarge as they pass down- 
wards, and disappear when they reach the orifice of the vagina. 

In warm climates, the nymphae are greatly and inconveniently 
elongated, and amongst the Egyptians and other African tribes, it has 
been the custom to extirpate them, or diminish their size. This is 
what is meant by circumcision in the female. 

The Vagina. 

The vagina is a canal, which extends between the vulva and uterus, 
the neck of which it embraces. It is from four to six inches long, 
and an inch and a half, or two inches, in diameter. It is situate in the 
pelvis, between the bladder before, and the rectum behind ; is slightly 
curved, with the concavity forwards, and narrower at the middle than 
at the extremities. Its inner surface has numerous — chiefly transverse 
— rugae, which become less in the progress of age, after repeated acts 
of copulation, and especially after childbirth. It is composed of an 
internal mucous membrane, supplied with numerous follicles, of a 
dense areolar membrane, and, between these, a layer of erectile tissue, 
which is thicker near the vulva, but is by some, said to extend even 
as far as the uterus. The upper portion of the vagina, to a small 
extent, is covered by peritoneum. 

The sphincter or constrictor vagincc muscle surrounds the orifice of the 
vagina. It is about an inch and a quarter wide, and ordinarily about 
six inches in length ; arises from the body of the clitoris, and passes 
backwards and downwards, to be inserted into the deiise white sub- 
stance in the centre of the perineum. 

The Hymen. 

Near the external aperture of the vagina is the hymen^ which is a 
more or less extensive membrane of variable shape, formed by the 
mucous membrane of the vulva, where it enters the vagina, so that it 
closes the canal more or less completely. 



GENUAL ORGANS OF THE FEMALE. 73 

It is generally very thin, and easily lacerated, but is sometimes 
extremely firm, so as to prevent penetration. It is usually of a semi- 
lunar shape ; sometimes oval from right to left, or almost circular, 
with an aperture in the middle ; whilst, occasionally, it is entirely 
imperforate, and, of course, prevents the issue of the menstrual flux. 

It is easily destroyed by mechanical violence of any kind, as by 
strongly rubbing the sexual organs of infants with coarse cloths, ano 
by ulcerations of the part ; hence its absence is not an absolute proo^ 




FRONT VIEW OF THE ERECTILE STRUCTURES OF THE EXTERNAL 

ORGANS OF GENERATION IN THE FEMALE. 

a. Bulbus vestibuli. b. Sphincter vaginae muscle. /?, e. Venous plexus, or 
pars intermedia, g. Connecting veins, h. Dorsal vein of tlie clitoris. /. The 
obturator vein. 

of the loss of virginity, as it was of old regarded by the Hebrews, nor 
is its presence a positive evidence of continence. Individuals have 
conceived in whom the aperture of the hymen has been so small as to 
prevent penetration. Its general semilunar or crescentic shape has 
J been considered to explain the origin of the symbol of the crescent 
assigned to Diana, the goddess of chastity. Around the part of the 
vagina where the hymen was situate, small, reddish, flattened, or 
rounded tubercles — caruJtculce inyrtiformes seu hymeitales — afterwards 



74 



GENITAL ORGANS OF THE FEMALE. 



exist, which are of various sizes, and are formed, according to the 
general opinion, by the remains of the hymen. MM. Beclard and 
J. Cloquet consider them to be folds of mucous membrane. Their 
number varies from two to five, or six. 



The Uterus (Womb). 

The uterus is a hollow organ for the reception of the foetus, and its 
^retention during gestation. It is situate in the pelvis, between the 




ANTERIOR VIEW OF THE UTERUS AND APPENDAGES. 

a. Fundus, b^ body, and c^ cervix or neck of the uterus, e. Front of the upper 
part of the vagina. n,n. Round ligaments of the uterus, r, r. Broad ligaments. 
s, s. Fallopian tubes, t. Fimbriated extremity, u. Ostium abdominale. The 
position of the ovaries is shown through the broad ligaments, and also the cut 
edge of the peritoneum, along the lower border of the broad ligaments and across 
the uterus. 

bladder — which is before, and the rectum behind, and below the con- 
volutions of the small intestines. It is of a conoidal shape, flattened 
on the anterior and posterior surfaces ; rounded at the base, which is 
above, and truncated at its apex, which is beneath. It is of small 
size, its length being only about two and a half inches ; breadth, one 
and a half inch at the base, and nearly an inch at the neck ; thickness, 
about an inch. It is divided into t\\G fundus, body, and cervix or neck. 
The fundus is the upper part of the organ above the insertion of the 
F'allopian tubes. The body is the part between the insertion of the 



GENITAL ORGANS OF THE FEMALE. 



75 



ftjbes and the neck, and the neck is the lowest and narrowest portion, 
which projects and opens into the vagina. At each of the two 
superior angles are the opening of the Fallopian tube, the attachment 
of the ligament of the ovary, and that of the round ligament. 

The inferior angle is formed by the neck, which projects into the 
vagkia to the distance of four or five lines, and terminates by a cleft, 
situate crosswise, called os tincce, os uteri or vaginal orifice of the\ 
uterus. The aperture is 
bounded by two lips, which 
are smooth and rounded in 
those that have not had 
children ; jagged and ru- 
gous in those who are 
mothers — the anterior lip 
being somewhat thicker 
than the posterior. It is 
from three to five lines 
long, and is generally more 
or less open, especially in 
those who have had chil- 
dren. 

The internal cavity of the 
uterus is very small in pro- 
portion to the bulk of the 
organ, owing to the thick- 
ness of the parietes, which 
almost touch internally. It 
is divided into the cavity of the body, and that of the neck 




WOMB LAID OPEN. 

a. The os uteri, b. The cervix, c. c. Extremities 
of the Fallopian tubes. 

The 



former is triangular. The tubes open at its upper angles. The 
second cavity is more long than broad ; is broader at the middle 
than at either end ; and at the upper part where it communicates' 
with the cavity of the body of the uterus an opening exists, called 
internal orifice of the uterus, the external orifice being the os uteri. 
The inner surface has several transverse rugae, which are not very 



76 



GENITAL ORGANS OF THE FEMALE. 



prominent. It is covered with a fine villi, and the orifices of several 
mucous follicles are visible. 



Mucous Membrane of the Uterus. 

When examined with a lens, the mucous membrane is found to be 
marked over with minute dots, v/hich are the orifices of numerous 
simple tubular glands ; some of these are branched and others slightly- 
twisted into a coil. They can be seen in the virgin uterus, but become 




POSTERIOR VIEW OF THE UTERUS AND ITS APPENDAGES, THE CAVITY OF 
THE UTERUS BEING SHOWN BY THE RF^MOVAL OF ITS POSTERIOR WALL, 
AND THE VAGINA BEING LAID OPEN. 

a. Fundus, b^ body, and c^ cervix of the uterus, laid open. The arbor vitse is 
shown in the cervix, d. The os uteri externum, laid open. e. The interior of the 
upper part of the vagina, f. Section of the walls of the uterus, i. Opening into 
Fallopian tube. o. Ovary, p. Ligament of ovary, r. Broad ligament, .s. Fallo- 
pian tube. t. Fimbriated extremity. 

enlarged on impregnation. The proper tissue of the organ is dense, 
compact, not easily cut, and somewhat resembles cartilage in color, 
resistance and elasticity. It is a whitish, homogeneous substance, 
penetrated by numerous minute vessels. 

In the unimpregnated state, the fibres which enter into the com- 
position of the tissue, appear ligamentous, and pass in every direction, 
but ^o as to permit the uterus to be more readily lacerated from the 
circumference to the centre than in any other direction. The precise 



if'f of 




SECTION OF FEMALE PELVIS, SHOWING THE PRINCIPAL PELVIC 

NERVES. 

a. Spermatic vein. b. Spermatic artery, c. Directs to the vena cava 
d. The aorta. ^, e. Inferior mesenteric nerves, f, g. The fourth and 
fifth lumbar ganglia. h, i, k. The first, second, and third sacral 
tn, m, in. The lumbar and sacral nerves, n. Branch supplying lower 
t>art of the rectum. 



GENITAL ORGANS OF THE FEMALE. 



7T 



character of the tissue has been a matter of contention amongst anat- 
omists. The microscope shows it to be composed of muscular fibres 
of the unstriped variety, interlacing with each other, but disposed in 
bands and layers, intermixed with much fibro-areolar tissue, a large 
number of bloodvessels and lymphatics, and a few nerves. The 
arrangement of the muscular fibres is best studied at an advanced 
period of utero-gestation. 

Arteries, Veins, Etc., of the Uterus. 

Besides the usual organic constituents, the 
iiterus has arteries, veins, lymphatics and nerves. 
The arteries proceed from two sources — the sper- 
matic, which are chiefly distributed to the fundus 
of the organ, and towards the part where the Fal- 
lopian tubes terminate ; and the hypogastric, which 
are sent especially to the body and neck. Their 
principal branches are readily seen under the peri- 
toneum, which covers the organ ; they are very tor- 
tuous ; frequently anastomose, and their ramifica- 
"iions are lost in the tissue of the viscus, and on 
its inner surface. 

The veins empty themselves partly into the sper- 
matic, and partly into the hypogastric. They are 
even more tortuous than the arteries ; and, during 
pregnancy, dilate and form what have been termed 
uterine sinuses. The nerves are derived partly from 
the great sympathetic, and partly from the sacral pairs. 
Some anatomists have maintained that the womb is 
with nerves ; others, that the number is not by any 




SECTION OF WOMB. 

a. Top of uterine 
cavity, b^ c. Longi- 
tudinal section, d. 
Os uteri ( mouth ) . e. 
upper part of vagina. 

copiously supplied 
means great. 



Appendages of the Uterus. 

I . The ligamenta lata or broad ligaments, which are formed by the 
peritoneum. This membrane is reflected over the anterior and pos- 
terior surfaces and over the fundus of the uterus, and thr 'ateral dupli- 



78 



GENlTAIv ORGANS OF THE FEMAILE. 



catures of it form a broad expansion and envelop the Fallopiail tubs* 
and ovaria. These expansions are the broad ligaments. 

2. The anterior and posterior ligaments^ which are four in number 
and are formed by the peritoneum. Two of these pass from the 
uterus to the bladder — the anterior — and two between the rectum and 
uterus — the posterior. 

3. The ligamenta rotunda or round ligaments^ which are about the 
size of a goose-quill, arise from the superior angles of the fundus 
uteri, and, proceeding obliquely downwards and outwards, pass out 
through the abdominal rings to be lost in the areolar tissue of the 
groins. They are whitish, somewhat dense cords, formed by a collec- 
tion of tortuous veins and lymphatics, nerves and longitudinal fibres, 
which were, at one time, believed to be muscular, but are now gen- 
erally considered to consist 
of condensed areolar tissue. 

4. The Fallopian or uter- 
ine tubes ; two conical, tor 
tuous canals, four or fiva 
inches in length, situate in 
the same broad ligaments 
that contain the ovaries, 
and extending from the superior angles of the uterus as far as the 
lateral parts of the brim of the pelvis. The uterine extremity of the 
tube is extremely small, and opens into the uterus by an aperture so 
minute as scarcely to admit a hog's bristle. The other extremity is 
called pavilion. It is trumpet-shaped, fringed, and commonly inclined 
towards the ovary, to which it is attached by one of its longest fimbriae. 
The Fallopian tubes, consequently, open at one end into the cavity 
of the uterus, and at the other, through the peritoneum into the cavity 
of the abdomen. They are covered externally by the broad ligament 
or peritoneum ; are lined internally by a mucous membrane, which is 
soft, villous, and has many longitudinal folds ; and between these 
coats is a thick, dense, whitish membrane, which is possessed of con- 
tractility although muscular fibres caimot be detected in it. 




FALLOPIAN TUBE. 




GENITAL ORGANS OF THE FEMALE. 79 

The ovaries are two ovoid bodies, of a pale red color, rugous, and 
nearly of the size of the testes of the male. They are situate in the 
cavity of the pelvis, and are contained in the posterior fold of the 
broad ligaments of the uterus. At one time they were conceived to 
be glandular, and were called the female testes ; but as soon as the 
notion prevailed that they contained ova, the term ovary or egg vessel 
was given to them. The external extremity of the ovary has attached 
to it one of the principal fimbriae of the Fallo- 
pian tube. 

The inner extremity has a small fibro-vas- 
cular cord inserted into it; this passes to the 
uterus, to which it is attached behind the 
insertion of the Fallopian tube, and a little section of ovary. 
lower. It is called ligar^ent of the ovary, and is in the posterior ala of 
the broad ligament. It is solid, and has no canal. The surface of the 
ovary has many round prominences, and the peritoneum envelops the 
v/hole of it, except at the part where the ovary adheres to the broad 
ligament. The precise nature of its parenchyma or stroma is not 
determined. When torn or divided longitudinally, it appears to be 
constituted of a cellulo-vascular tissue. 

Ovisacs or Graafian Vesicles. 

On cutting into a healthy ovar)^ of a subject not too lar advanced in 
life, a number of small vesicles or bladders (so small as to require the 
aid of the microscope to see them) may be readily separated. These 
vesicles are named after De Graaf, their discoverer. 

In the lower animals, the ovary consists of a loose tissue, containing 
many cells, in which the ova are formed, and from which they escape 
by the rupture of the cell-walls ; in the higher animals, as in the 
human female, the tissue is more compact, and the ova, except when 
they are approaching maturity, can only be distinguished by the aid 
of a high magnifying power. 

Observations have shown that the vesicles of De Graaf exist even 
in the foetus ; and it would seem that during the period of childhood 



80 



GENITAL ORGANS OF THE FEMALE. 



there is a continual rupture of ovisacs and discharge of ova at the 
surface of the ovarium. The ovaria are studded with numerous 
minute copper-colored spots, and their surface presents delicate 
vesicular elevations, occasioned by the most matured ovisacs; the 
escape of these takes place by minute punctiform openings in the 




SECTION OF GRAAFIAN VESI- 
CLE OF A MAMMAL, AFTER 
VON BAEK. 

I. Stroma of r lie ovary with 
bloodvessels. 2. Peritoneum. 
3 and 4. Layers of the exter- 
nal coat of the Graafian vesicle. 
5. Membrana granulosa. 6. 
Fluid of Graafian vesicle. 7 
Granular zone or discus pro- 
ligerus containing the ovum (8). 




DIAGRAM OF A GRAAFIAN VESICLE CON- 
TAINING AN OVUM. 

I. Stroma of the tissue of the ovary. 2 and 3. 
External and internal tunics of the Graafian 
vesicle. 4. Cavity of the vesicle. 5. Thick 
tunic of the ovum or yolk-sac. 6. The yolk. 
7. Thegerminal vesicle. 8. The germinal spot. 



peritoneal coat, and no cicatrix is left. The different conditions of 
progress towards maturation are well seen in the ovary or yolk-bag 
of the common fowl. 

The arteries and veins of the ovaries belong to the spermatic. 
The arteries pass between the two layers of the broad ligament to the 
ovary, assuming there a beautiful convoluted arrangement, very 
similar to the convoluted arteries of the testis. These vessels 
traverse the ovary nearly in parallel lines, as in the marginal figure, 
forming numerous minute twigs, which have an irregular knotty 
appearance, from their tortuous condition, and appear to be chiefly 
distributed to the Graafian vesicles. The nerves of the ovaries, which 
are extremely delicate, are from the renal plexuses, and their 
lymphatics communicate with those of the kidneys. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
Menstruation. 

^ Subject of Great Importance — Girl and Woman — Evils of Too Karly Marriage — 
Feeble Parents and Feeble Children — Duration of Monthly Period — Period of 
Puberty — Very Young Mothers — Close of the Menstrual Function — Some 
Remarkable Facts — Nature of the Menstrual Discharge — Suppressed by Preg- [ 
nancy — Effects of Nursing — An Evil Practice — Poverty of Blood — Regularity 
Important — Effects of Dissipation — '* Change of lyife " — Profuse Discharges — 
Nervous Symptoms — Flushes of Heat — Bleeding at the Nose — Hysteria — The 
Blessing of Health. 

TT TREE is known by its fruit;" so a healthy womb — one 
JTx capable of bearing a child — is known usually by menstrua- 
tion ; for if menstruation be, in every way, properly and 
healthily performed, there is, as a rule, no reason, as far as the wife is 
herself concerned, why she should not conceive, carry, and, in due 
time, bring forth a living child ; hence the importance of menstruation 
— the subject we are now entering upon, and which, indeed, is one of 
the most important that can engage the attention of every woman, for 
if menstruation be healthy, the womb is healthy, and the woman, as a 
rule, is healthy, and capable both of conception and of child-bearing. 
There is an important epoch in the life of a woman which might be 
divided into three stages, namely : (i) the commencement of menstrua- 
tion — of puberty ; (2) the continuation, at regular periods, of men- 
struation — the child-bearing age ; and (3) the close of menstruation— 
of child-bearing—-*' the change of life." 

A good beginning at this time is peculiarly necessary, or a girl's 
health is sure to suffer, and different organs^^^f-the body — her lungs, 
lor instance — might become imperilled. JA healthy continuation, at 
regular periods, is much needed, or conceptioTT, when she is married, 
might not be practicable .^^he close of menstruation requires great 
attention and skilful m-anagement to ward off many formidable diseases, 
which at the close of menstruation — at " the change of life" — are more 
likely than at any time to become developed. 

6 81 



82 MENSTRUATION. 

Whether, therefore, it be at the commencement, at the continuation, 
or at the close, watchfuhiess and care must be paid to the subject, or 
irreparable mischief might, and probably will, ensue. 

Landmark Between the Girl and 'Woman. 

Menstruation — '' the periods " — the beginning of the catamenia ot 
the menses — is, then, one of the most important epochs in a girl's life. 
It is the boundary- line, the landmark, between childhood and woman- 
hood ; it is the threshold, so to speak, of a woman's life. Her body 
now develops and expands, and her mental capacity enlarges and 
improves. She then ceases to be a child, and becomes a woman> 
She is now, for the first time, as a rule, able to conceive. 

Although puberty has at this time commenced, it cannot be sait 
that she is at her full perfection ; it takes eight or ten years more to 
complete her organization, which will bring her to the age of twenty- 
three or twenty-five years ; which, perhaps, are the best ages for s^ 
woman, if she have both the chance and the inclination, to marry. 

If she marry when very young, marriage weakens her system, and 
prevents a full development of her body. Besides, if she marry when 
she is only seventeen or eighteen, the bones of the pelvis — the bones 
of the lower part of the trunk — are not at that time sufficiently 
developed ; are not properly shaped for the purpose of labor ; do not 
allow of sufficient space for the head of the child to readily pass, as 
though she were of the riper age of twenty -three or twenty-five. She 
might have in consequence a severe and dangerous confinement. 

Best Time for Marrying. 

Parents ought, therefore, to persuade their daughters not to marry 

until they are at least twenty-one ; they should point out to them the 

risk and danger likely to ensue if their advice be not followed. They 

should instil into them that splendid passage from Shakespeare, that-— 

•' Things growing are not ripe until their season." 

What wonder that the girl of seventeen or eighteen, whose bones 
qre only half consolidated, and whose pelvis, especially with its mus- 



MENSTRUATIO.,. S% 

cular and ligamentous surroundings, is yet far from maturity, loses 
her health after marriage and becomes the delicate mother of sickly 
children ? Parents who have the real interest and happiness of their 
daughters at heart ought, in consonance with the laws of physiology, 
to discountenance marriage before twenty, and the nearer the girls 
arrive at the age of twenty-five before the consummation of this 
important rite, the greater the probability that, physically and morally, 
they will be protected against those risks which precocious marriages 
bring in their train. 

If a lady marry late in life, say after she be thirty, the soft parts 
engaged in parturition are more rigid and more tense, and thus 
become less capable of dilatation, which might cause, for the first 
time, a hard arid tedious labor. Again, when she marries late in life, 
she might not live to see her children grow up to be men and women. 
Moreover, as a rule, ''the offspring of those that are very young or 
very old lasts not." Everything, therefore, points out that the age 
above indicated — namely, somewhere between twenty-one and thirty — 
is the most safe and suitable time for a woman to marry. 

Is the Race Deteriorating? 

Feeble parents have generally feeble children, diseased parents 
diseased children, nervous parents nervous children — ''like begets 
like." It is sad to reflect, that the innocent have to suffer, not only 
for the guilty, but for the thoughtless and for the inconsiderate. 
Disease and debility are thus propagated from one generation to 
another, and the English race becomes woefully deteriorated. 

It is true that people live longer now than formerly ; but it is owing 
to increased medical skill and to improved sanitary knowledge, keep- 
ing alive the puny, the delicate and the diseased ; but, unfortunately, 
those imperfect creatures, who swell the ranks of the population, will 
only propagate puny, delicate and diseased progeny like unto them- 
selves. Not only do children inherit the physical diseases, but they 
inherit, likewise, the moral and mental infirmities of their parents, and 
thus are often life-long sufferers. 



«^ ^ 



84 MENSTRUATION. 

Menstruation generally comes on once every month — that is to say, 
ever}^ twent}^-eight days ; usually to the day, and frequently to the 
very hour. Some ladies, instead of being ** regular " ev^ery month, 
cire ** regular " every three weeks. Each menstruation continues from 
three to five days ; in some for a week, and in others for a longer 
period. It is estimated that during each *' monthly period," from four 
CO six ounces is, on an average, the quantity discharged. 

A lady seldom conceives unless she be '' regular," although there 
are cases on record where women have conceived who have never had 
their ** periods ; " but such cases are extremely rare. 

When Menstruation Commences. 

Menstruation in this country usually commences at the ages of from 
thirteen to sixteen, some earlier ; occasionally at the ages of eleven or 
twelve ; at other times later, and not until a girl be seventeen or 
eighteen years of age. Menstruation in large towns is supposed to 
commence at an earlier period than in the country, and earlier in 
luxurious than in simple life. 

Dr. Carpenter, a well-known authority, says in his ^* Human Physi- 
ology : " "In the human female the period of puberty, or of com- 
mencing aptitude for procreation, is usually between the thirteenth and 
sixteenth years. It is generally thought to be somewhat earlier in 
warm climates than ip cold, and in densely-populated manufacturing 
towns than in thinly-populated agricultural districts. The mental and 
bodily habits of the individual have also considerable influence upon 
the time of its occurrence, girls brought up in the midst of luxury or 
sensual indulgence undergoing this change earlier than those reared 
in hardihood and self-denial. 

Menstruation continues for thirty, and sometimes even for thirty- 
five years ; and, while it lasts, is a sign that a lady is liable to become 
pregnant — unless, indeed, menstruation should be protracted much 
beyond the usual period of time. As a rule, then, when a woman 
** ceases to be unwell " she ceases to have a family ; therefore, as men- 
struation usually leaves her at forty-five, it is seldom that after that 




V-CETAL SURFACE OF THE PLACENTA ( AFTERBIRTH), 



MENSTRUATION. 85 

age she has a child, yet a recent number of a French medical journa/ 
records that " Madame X., of Lauvaur, aged sixty years, was recently 
delivered of twins." 

Having mentioned a case of late fecundity, here is a case of early 
fecundity, in which a girl has seven confinements before she was 
twenty-one years of age ! She was married at fourteen — her husband 
being only fifteen years old ! 

Some Curious Facts. 

Some remarkable cases come to light in the Scotch Registrar-Gen- 
eral's report in reference to prolific mothers. One mother, who was 
only eighteen, had four children ; one, who was twenty-tv^o, had seven 
children, and of two who were only thirty-four, one had thirteen and 
the other fourteen children ; and, on the other hand, two women 
became mothers as late in life as fifty-one, and four at fifty- two, and 
one mother was registered as having given birtn to a child in the fifty- 
seventh year of her age. 

In very warm climates, such as in Abyssinia and in India, girls 
menstruate when very young— at ten or eleven years old ; indeed, 
they are sometimes mothers at those ages. But when it commences 
early it leaves early, so that they are old women at thirty. Physically, 
we know that there is a very large latitude of difference in the periods 
of human maturity, not merely between individual and individual, but 
also between nation and nation — differences so great that in some 
southern regions of Asia we hear of matrons at the age of twelve. 

Dr. Montgomery brings forward some interesting cases of early 
maturity. He says : ** Bruce mentions that in Abyssinia he has fre- 
quently seen mothers eleven years of age, and Dunlop witnessed 
the same in Bengal. Dr. Goodeve, Professor of Midwifery at Cal- 
cutta, in reply to a quer}^- on the subject, said : * The earliest age at 
which I have kncKvii a Hindu woman bear a child is ten years, but I 
have heard of one at nine.' " 

In cold climates, such as Russia, women begin to menstruate late 
in life, frequently not until they are between twenty and thirty years 



66 



MENSTRUATION. 



old ; and, as it lasts on them thirty or thirty-five years, it is not an 
unusual occurrence for them to bear children at a very advanced age 
— even so late as sixty. They are frequently not "regular" oftener 
than three or four times a year, and when it does occur the menstrual 

discharge is generally sparing in 

quantity. 




The Menstrual Discharge. 

The menstrual fluid is not exactly 
blood, although, both in appearance 
and in properties, it much resembles 
it ; yet it never in the healthy state 
clots as blood does. It is a secretion 
from the womb, and, when healthy, 
ought to be of a bright red color, in 
appearance very much like blood from 
a recently cut finger. 

The menstrual fluid ought not, as 
before observed, to clot. If it does, 
a lady, "during her periods," suffers 
intense pain; moreover, she seldom 
conceives until the clotting has ceased. 
Application must therefore, in such a 
case, be made to a medical adviser, 
who will soon relieve the above pain- 
ful symptoms, and, by doing so, will 
probably pave the way to her becom- 
ing pregnant. 

Menstruation ceases entirely in pregnancy, during suckling, and 
usually both in diseased and in disordered states of the womb. It 
ilso ceases in cases of extreme debility, and in severe illness, especially 
in consumption ; indeed, in the latter disease — consumption — it is one 
of the most unfavorable of the symptoms. 

It has been asserted, and by men of great experience, that some- 



SYSTEM OF ARTERIES IN THE 
HUMAN BODY. 



MENSTRUATION. 87 

Smes a woman menstruates during pregnancy. It appears utterly 
impossible that she should be able to do so. The moment she con- 
ceives the neck of the womb becomes plugged up by means of mucus; 
it is, in fact, hermetically sealed. There certainly is sometimes a 
slight red discharge, looking very much like menstrual fluid, and 
coming on at her monthly periods, but being usually very sparing in 
quantity and lasting only a day or so, and sometimes only for an 
hour or two ; but this discharge does not come from the cavity of, 
but from some small vessels at the mouth of, the womb, and is not 
menstrual fluid at all, but a few drops of real blood. If this discharge 
came from the cavity of the womb, it would probably lead to a mis- 
carriage. Good authorities declare that it would be quite impossible 
during pregnancy for menstruation to occur. They consider that the 
discharge which was taken for menstruation arose from the rupture of 
some small vessels about the mouth of the womb. 

EfTects of Suckling. 

Some ladies, though comparatively few, menstruate during suckling; 
r;hen they do, it may be considered not the rule but the exception. 
It is said, in such instances, that they are more likely to conceive, 
and no doubt they are, as menstruation is an indication of a proneness 
to conception. Many persons have an idea that when a woman, 
during lactation, menstruates, her milk is both sweeter and purer. 
Such is an error. Menstruation during suckling is more likely to 
weaken the mother, and consequently to deteriorate her milk. It 
therefore behooves a parent never to take a wet nurse who men- 
struates during the period of suckling. 

During " the monthly periods," violent exercise is injurious ; iced 
drinks and acid beverages are improper ; and bathing in the sea, and 
bathing the feet in cold water, and cold baths, are dangerous ; indeed, 
at such times as these, no risks should be run, and no experiments 
should, for one moment, be permitted, otherwise serious consequences 
will, in all probability, ensue. *' The monthly periods " are time' not 
io be trifled with, or woe betide the unfortunate trifler I ' 



88 MENSTRUATION. 

The pale, colorless complexion, helpless, listless, and almost lifeless 
young ladies, that are so constantly seen in society, usually owe their 
miserable state of health either to absent, to deficient, or to profuse 
menstruation. Their breathing is short — they are soon '* out of 
breath;" if they attempt to take exercise — to walk, for instance, 
either up stairs or up a hill, or even for half a mile on level ground — 
their breath is nearly exhausted — they pant as though they had been 
running quickly. They are ready, after the slighest exertion of 
fatigue,, and after the least worry or excitement, to feel faint, and 
sometimes to actually swoon away. 

It therefore behooves mothers to seek early for their girls medical 
aid, and that before irreparable mischief has been done to the consti- 
tution. How many a poor girl might, if this advice had been early 
followed, have been saved from consumption, and from an untimely 
grave, and made a useful member of society ; but, alas ! like many 
other things in this world, mothers will not ''hearken unto counsel" 
until it be too late — too late ; and then, at the eleventh hour, doctors 
are expected to work miracles ! 

A Pernicious Practice. 

There is an evil practice, which, as it is very general, requires 
correction, namely, the giving of gin by a mother to her daughter at 
the commencement of each of *' her periods," more especially if she 
be in much pain. This practice often leads a girl to love spirits — to 
become, in the course of time, a drunkard. There are other remedies, 
not at all injurious, that medical practitioners give at these times, and 
which will afford both speedier and more effectual relief than gin. 

If a single lady, who is about to be married, have either painful, or 
scanty, or too pale, or too dark menstruation, it is incumbent on either 
her mother or a female friend to consult, two or three months before 
the marriage take place, an experienced medical man on her case ; if 
this be not done, she will most likely, after marriage, either labor under 
ill-health, or be afflicted with barrenness, or, if she do conceive, be 
prone to miscarry. 



MENSTRUATION. 89 

In a pale, delicate girl or wife, who is laboring under what is popu- 
larly caMed poverty of blood, the menstrual fluid is sometimes very scant, 
at others very copious, but is, in either case, usually very pale — almost as 
colorless as water — the patient being very nervous, and even hysterical. 
Now, these are signs of great debility ; but, fortunately for such a one, 
a medical man is, in the majority of cases, in possession of remedies 
that vvill soon make her all right again. 

Too Weak to Bring Forth. 

A delicate girl has no right, until she be made strong, to marry. 
If she should marry, she will frequently, when in labor, not have 
strength to bring a child into the world ; which, provided she be 
healthy and well-formed, ought not to be. How graphically the Bible 
tells of delicate women not having strength to bring children into the 
world : " For the children are come to the birth, and there is not 
strength to bring forth." — 2 Kings, xix. 3. 

When a lady is neither pregnant nor " regular," she ought imme- 
diately to apply to a doctor, as she may depend upon it there is some- 
thing wTong about her, and that she is not likely to become enceinte 
until menstruation be properly established. As soon as menstruation 
be duly established, pregnancy will most likely, in due time, ensue 

What Is Meant by Being Regular. 

When a lady is said to be *' regular," it is understood that she is 
** regular" as to '' quality^" and quantity, and time. If she be only 
"regular" as to the time, and the quantity be either deficient or in 
excess; or, if she be "regular" as to the time, and the quality be 
bad, either too pale or too dark ; or if she be " regular " as to the 
quality and quantity, and be irregular as to the time, she cannot be 
well, and the sooner means are adopted to rectify the evil, the better 
it will be both for her health and for her happiness. 

A neglected miscarriage is a frequent cause of unhealthy menstrua- 
tion ; and until the womb, and in consequence "the periods," by 
judicious medical treatment, be made healthy, there is indeed but scant 
chance of a family. 



90 MENSTRUATION. 

We have no doubt that alcohol, among fashionable ladies, and which 
they take in quantities — " to keep them up to the mark," as they call 
it — is one great cause of hysteria ; ladies who never taste alcohol in 
any form seldom labor under hysteria. And why is it so ? Alcohol 
at all in excess, depresses the system, and thus predisposes it tc> 
hysteria, and to other nervous affections. 

A lady who is not a votary of fashion, and who is neither a brandy-/ 
drinker or a wine-bibber, may have hysteria — one, for instance, who 
has naturally a delicate constitution, or who has been made delicate 
by any depressing cause. A large family of children, repeated mis- 
carriages, and profuse menstruation, are three common causes of 
hysteria ; indeed, anything and everj^hing that produces debility will 
induce hysteria. 

" Change of Life." 

As soon as a lady ceases to be ** after the manner of women" — 
that is to say, as soon as she ceases to menstruate — it is said that she 
has a " change of life ; " and if she does not take proper care, she will 
soon have "a change of health" to boot, which in all probability will 
be for the worse. " Change of life " is sometimes called ** the critical 
period." It well deserves its name — it is one of the critical periods of 
a woman's life, and oftentimes requires the counsel of a doctor 
experienced in such matters to skilfully treat. 

After a period of about thirty years' continuation of ** the periods," 
a woman ceases to menstruate — that is to say, when she is about 
forty-four or forty-five years of age, and, occasionally, as late in life as 
when she is forty-eight years of age, she has '* change of life," or, as 
it is sometimes called, '* a turn of years " — ''the turn of life." Now, 
before this takes place, she oftentimes becomes ver>' "irregular;" at 
one time she is " unwell " before her proper period ; at another time 
either before or after ; so that it becomes a '' dodging time" with her, 
as it is styled. In a case of this kind menstruation is sometimes very 
profuse ; it is at another very sparing ; occasionally it is light-colored, 
almost colorless ; sometimes it is as red as from a cut finger ; while 
now and then it is as black as ink and as thick as molasses. 



II 



MENSTRUATION. 91 

When a lady is about having ** change of life," violent flooding is 
apt to come on — as profuse as though she were miscarrying. Thus 
violent flooding is often the end of her *' periods," and she sees no 
more of them. Others, again, more especially the active and 
abstemious, suffer so little at " change of life," that, without any 
premonitory symptoms whatever, it suddenly, in due time, leaves 
them — they, the while, experiencing neither pain nor inconvenience 

A lady in " change of life " usually begins to feed, fat more 
especially accumulates about the bosom and about the abdomen, 
thus giving her a matronly appearance, and, now and then, making 
her believe that she is enceinte, especially if the wish be father to the 
thought. So firmly has she sometimes been convinced of her being 
in an interesting condition, that she has actually prepared baby-linen 
for the expected event, and has even engaged her monthly nurse. 
Now, it would be well, before such a one had made up her mind that 
she be really pregnant, to consult an experienced doctor in the matter 
and then her mind will be set at rest, and all unpleasant gossip and 
silly jokes will be silenced. Skilled knowledge, in every doubtful 
ease, is the only knowledge worth the having ; the opinion of old 
women, in such matters, is indeed of scant value ! 

Nervous Affections. 

She has peculiar pains, sometimes in one place and then in another; 
ifhe head is often affected, at one time the back, at another time the 
front, over her eyes, Hght and noise having but little or no effect in 
aggravating the headache. She is very *' nervous," as it is called, and 
has frequent flutterings of the heart, and sudden flushings of the face 
and neck — -causing her to become, to her great annoyance, as red as a 
peony ! 

She has swellings and pains of her breast, so as often to make her 
fancy that she has some malignant tumor there. She is troubled 
much with flatulence, and with pains, sometimes on the right, and at 
other times on the left side of the belly ; the flatulence is occasionally 
^ost outrageous, so as to cause her to shun society, and to make her 



92 MENSTRUATION. 

life almost burdensome. She has not only " wind " in the bowels, but 
'• wind " in the stomach, which frequently rises up to her throat, 
making her sometimes hysterical ; indeed, she is often hysterical — a 
little thing making her laugh and cry, or both the one and the other 
in a breath. She has frequently pains in her left side — in the region 
of the short ribs. She has pains in her back — in the lower part of her 
back — and low down in her abdomen. 

The nose is, at these times, very much inclined to bleed, more 
especially at what was formerly her "periods ; " here nature is doing 
all she can to relieve her, and, therefore, should not unnecessarily be 
meddled with, but the nose should be allowed to bleed on, unless 
indeed the bleeding be very profuse. 

Eruptions of the skin, more especially on the face, are, at such 
times, very apt to occur, so as to make a perfect fright of a comely 
woman ; there is one comfort for her, the eruption, with judicious 
treatment, will gradually disappear, leaving no blemish behind. 

Danger of Neglect. 

The above symptoms, either a few or all of them, are, in *' change 
of life," of common occurrence, and require the assistance of a doctor 
experienced in such matters. If the above symptoms be neglected, 
serious consequences might, and most likely will ensue ; while, on the 
other hand, if they be properly treated, such symptoms will gradually 
subside, leaving her in excellent health — better, probably, than she 
has been in for years, more especially if her constitution had been 
«jreviously weakened by repeated childbirths. 

Fat is apt at these times to accumulate about the throat and about 
the chin — giving her a double chin. There is oftentimes, too, a slight 
indication of a beard. 

We sometimes hear of a lady being " fat, fair and forty." Now^ 
when a wife, at the age of forty, suddenly becomes very fat, however 
**fair" she maybe, and she is often very fair, she seldom has any 
more family, even though she be *' regular " — the sudden fatness often 
denoting premature "change of life." If such a one had, before th^ 



- Last Lumbar Vertebrae. 



«ecrum. - 



Rectum ; 

here covered by Peritoneuts:* 




SECTION OF FEMALE PELVIS AND ORGANS. 



MENSTRUATION. 9^ 

fat had accumulated, taken more out-door exercise, she would, in all 
probability, have kept her fat down, and would thus have prevented 
premature *' change of life." 

Active, bustling women are seldom very fat, and sometimes have 
their " periods " until they are forty-eight years of age ; indeed, they 
occasionally bear children at that age, and have splendid confinements. 
How true it is, that luxurious living and small families, and hard and 
tedious labors and premature decay, generally go hand in hanJ 
together ! But so it is, and so it always will be ; luxury draws hea\')' 
bills on the constitution, which must eventually be paid, and that 
with heavy and with compound interest. 

Meddling w^ith Nature. 

Bleeding piles are ver}^ apt to occur in *' change of life ; " they fre- 
quently come on periodically. Now, bleeding piles, at such times as 
these, may be considered a good sign as an effort of nature to relieve 
herself, and to be very beneficial to health, and, therefore, ought not, 
unless very violent, to be interfered with, and certainly not without the 
consent of a judicious medical man. Meddling with nature is a 
dangerous matter, and is a hazardous game to play ! 

When ''change of life" is about, and during the time, and for some- 
time afterwards, a lady labors under at times, as above stated, great 
flushings of heat ; she, as it were, blushes all over ; she grows very 
hot and red, almost scarlet, then perspires, and afterwards becomes 
cold and chilly. These flushings occur at verj^ irregular periods ; they 
might come on once or twice a day, at other times only once or twice 
a week, and occasionally only at what would have been her ^'periods." 
These flushings might be looked upon as rather favorable symptoms, 
and as a struggle of nature to relieve herself through the skin. These 
flushings are occasionally attended with hysterical symptoms. A 
little appropriate medicine is for these flushings desirable. 

A lady while laboring under these heats is generally both very 
much annoyed and distressed ; but she ought to comfort herself with 
the knowledge that they are in all probability doing her good service, 



94 MENSTRUATION. 

and that they might be warding off from some internal organ of her 
body serious mischiefs. 

Better Health May be Expected. 

** Change of life" is, then, one of the most important periods of a 
lady's existence, and generally determines whether, for the rest of her 
days, she shall either be healthy or otherwise ; it therefore impera- 
tively behooves her to pay attention to the subject, and in all cases, 
whei it is about taking place, to consult a medical man, who will, in 
the majority of cases, be of great benefit to her, as he will be able not 
only to relieve the symptoms above enumerated, but to ward off many 
important and serious diseases to which she would otherwise be liable. 
When ''change of life" ends favorably, which, if properly managed, it 
most likely will do, she may improve in constitution, and may really 
enjoy better health and spirits, and more comfort than she has done 
for many previous years. 

A lady who has during her wifehood eschewed fashionable society, 
and who has lived simply, plainly and sensibly, who has avoided 
brandy-drinking, and who has taken plenty of out-door exercise, will, 
during the autumn and winter of her existence, reap her reward by 
enjoying what is the greatest earthly blessing — health! Not only her 
health will be established, but her comeliness and youthfulness will be 
prolonged. Although she might not have the freshness and bloom of 
youth — which is very evanescent — she will probably have a beauty of 
her own — which is ofttimes more lasting than that of youth — telling of 
a well-spent life. 

It is surprising how soon a fashionable life plants crow-feet on the 

face and wrinkles on the brow; indeed, a fashionist becomes old 

before her time ; and not only old, but querulous and dissatisfied ; 

nothing ages the countenance, sours the temper, and interferes with 

"the critical period," more than a fashionable life. Fashion is a hard, 

and cruel, and exacting creditor, who will be paid to the uttermost 

farthing, 

** See the wild purchase of the bold and vain. 
Whose every bliss is bought with equal pain.** 



CHAPTER IX. 
Conception. 

The Seminal A.nimalcule — Body and Soul — Birth and Genius— Children of all 
Races Resemble their Parents— Kach Parent an Agent—Testes and Ovaries — 
Zoosperms or Spermatozoa — How Impregnation Takes Place — Vast Numbers 
of Zoosperms — Egg of the Fowl — ^Most Favorable Period for Conception — How 
the Generative Act should be Performed— When Impregnation is not Likely 
to Take Place — Limiting the Number of Children — Prevention of Conception. 

THE formation of the zoosperm, or seminal animalcule, in man, and 
the ovum in woman, belongs to the domain of organic life, yet 
all the highest powers of the soul and the soul's organs are 
engaged in the work. For there is to be more than a mere bodily 
organization formed — a mass of bone, muscle, and various tissues. 
First of all, there is to be generated an immortal soul. 

The generation of souls seems necessary, indeed, to explain the 
facts of the hereditary transmission of moral and mental, as well as 
physical qualities. The souls of children — their moral characters — ■ 
are like those of their parents, and compounded of those of theii 
fathers and mothers, some more resembling one, some the other. We 
never find the soul of a European In the body of a Hottentot, or the 
soul of a North American Indian in the body of a native of China. 

How Character is Formed. 

Two human beings, uniting as one, becoming " one flesh," have 
thus given to them the power or are the appointed instruments of 
generating a third being — body, soul and spirit. They forrn it accord- 
ing to their own capacities. Or, if the soul have any other origin, it 
must be admitted that they limit Its expression and development, and 
all its earthly manifestation ; so that there are great and little souls, 
beautiful and ugly souls, and so on of all varieties of human char- 
acter. 

But it must also be admitted that there are facts of human intelli- 
c^ence and goodness not easily accounted for upon the theory of 

95 



96 CONCEPTION. 

hereditar}^ transmission. How came a Shakespeare to spring up in 
Warwickshire ? What do we know of the progenitors of our greatest 
geniuses in every department of human achievement? We must 
admit other influences — supernal inspirations. 

It may be that if we could know the conditions and peculiar rela- 
tions and elevations of the souls of parents in the generation of souls 
of genius, we might see a solution of the mystery. But leaving out / 
such apparently exceptional facts, we can see that, as a general rule, 
in families, nations and races the children resemble thc'r parents. 
English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish have peculiarities as marked as 
Chinese, Negroes, North American Indians and Esquimaux. 

And the soul grows as the body grows, and changes as the body 
changes, and grows strong by exercise, and great by the reception of 
soul nutriment, and is prepared to generate still higher souls ; and this 
is the law of education, development and progress. So we have dis- 
eases of the soul as of the body, these reacting on each other, and 
each susceptible of proper curative treatment. Does not the mind 
feed on thoughts and feelings, and get starved or surfeited, and grow 
dyspeptic on trash or sweetmeats, or exhilarated and intoxicated ? Who 
has not felt his whole soul strengthened by communion with some 
strong spirit? 

Male and Female Organs. 

This sublime function of the generation of human beings, soul and 
body, is performed by the two male and female organs, the testes and 
the ovaries, acted upon by every human faculty and modified by every 
human circumstance and action. 

It is not in our power to solve the questions respecting the portions 
of the mental and physical organization contributed by either parent. 
We see no reason to believe in any such partition. We think each 
has a share in the formation of every part, though in any part the 
influence of one or the other may preponderate. A child may resem- 
ble either of its parents or both, or it may be more like one of its 
grandparents than either. It may have more of the mind of one, or 
the physical constitution of the other, or both may be evenly mingled. 



CONCEPTION. 



97 



If a man have a powerfully-developed and active mind and a 
woman a vigorous organic system, it is likely that their child will 
resemble each in their strongest points. Germ cell and sperm cell, 
we believe, are both engaged in the formation of every faculty and 
organ. 

The sperm cell is the result of the action of that complex organ, 
the testicle — an organ composed of a vast surface of tubular struc- 
ture, and amply supplied with nerve 
and blood, by which and out of 
which these animate cells are 
formed. Then, within the primi- 
tive sperm cell, appear cells, and 
within these are formed, first in a 
circular mass, a great number of 
exceedingly minute living beings, 
consisting of an oval-shaped body 
and a long tail. 

This self-propelling cell swims in 
a fluid substance like the white of 
an Gggy but more opaque, formed 
partly in the testes and partly 
secreted by the prostate gland. 
In full health and vigor, these 
zoosperms are very numerous and 
active ; in sickness or exhaustion 
they are few and weak, and in certain states of the system they entirely 
disappear, and the power of fecundation no longer exists. 




THE BLADDER, PROSTATE GLAND AT 
ITS BASE AND VESICUL/E SEMINALES 
EXTENDING UP ITS SIDES. 



Hq-w the Spermatozoa are Set Free. 

The primitive germ cell first bursts, setting free the smaller cells, 
and these, in turn, liquefy and set free the now perfected zoosperms ; 
the seminal fluid containing them then passes on through the vasa 
deferentia, up the spermatic cord, passes through the walls of the 
abdomen, and is received with the prostatic fluid, according to the 
7 



d8 



CONCEPTION. 



common belief, into the seminal vesicles, which are a reservoir in 
which it is retained, until expelled by the action of the proper mus 
cular apparatus in the sexual orgasm. 

The zoosperms retain their power of motion, under favorable cir- 
cumstances, for hours, and even days, after being ejected. In fish, 
which do not copulate, they swim about in the water until they come 
in contact with the eggs spawned by the female. The ripe eggs or 
hard roe may be taken from the body of a female fish, and the testicle 
or soft roe from the male, and fecundation produced by mingling them 
together, and ponds and rivers may be stocked with 
fish by this mode of artificial impregnation. 

Spermatic Fluid and the Ovaries 

In the generation of mammalia the spermatic 
fluid should be thrown into the mouth of the uterus, 
and, then, by the contractions of that organ, forced 
up the Fallopian tubes toward the ovaries. But 
circumstances may prevent this being accomplished. 
There may be some malformation, and still impreg- 
nation may take place, for the active zoosperms, in 
great numbers, move every way with a rapid 
THE SPERMATOZOA motiou, and are able to find their way through the 
entire length of vagina, uterus and Fallopian tubes. 
On the other hand, when the womb is too low in 
the common ailment of falling of the womb, the semen may pass 
beyond the mouth of the womb, and be lodged in a deep fold of the 
vagina, which may prevent impregnation. 

While the testicles are engaged in the evolution of zoosperms, the 
ovaries of the female are no less active in forming and ripening the 
ova ; but with this striking difference, that, while zoosperms are formed 
by millions, and may be ejected day after day, we have but one or 
^vo, or in rare cases, from three to five, ova perfected once a month, 
and this process ceases during gestation, and should also be suspended 
during lactation. The ovum, or egg, which, in all its essential parts. 




OR LIFE GERMS 
OF THE MALE. 



CONCEPTION. 99 

is alike in all animals, and which consists of a cell, a nucleus, and a 
nucleolus, is found in the stroma or mass of the ovary. 

The egg of the common fowl may be taken as the type of all eggs. 
Its yolk and white are of immense bulk, compared with its germinal 
spot, because there must be contained within the shell the entire 
matter of which the perfect chicken is formed. In the human ovum this 
matter is small in quantity, as the foetus, from an early period, is 
nourished by the blood of the mother in the uterus. 

When this egg is fully formed, ripened, or matured, the cell which 
envelops it, swells, bursts, and sets it free. It is then grasped by the 
fimbriated extremity of the Fallopian tube, and begins its journey down 
that passage to the uter-us. It may be impregnated at any time after 
it is set free by the, bursting of the Graafian vesicle, until its arrival in 
the uterus, and possibly until its expulsion from that receptacle. 

Lfaws of Conception. 

It will be seen that conception can only take place under certain 
well-defined circumstances. First, there must be a ripened ovum, set 
free from its Graafian vesicle. This takes place regularly once a month, 
after the period of puberty, and in all healthy females is marked by 
the menstrual evacuation. If this evacuation is coincident with the 
expulsion of the ovum from the ovary, impregnation must take place, 
if at all, within eight, or, at most, twelve days of that period. 

The zoosperms may meet the ovum on its passage, or, possibly, the 
ovum may find the zoosperm awaiting its arrival. It follows that 
sexual connection, to answer the natural end, should take place not 
more than three days before the beginning, or within ten days after 
the menstrual evacuation. 

But in the diseases and irregularities of our lives, with the excite- 
ments of stimulating food and general false habits, with the continual 
over-excitement and exercise of the generative organs, these processes 
become irregular and their normal signs not to be depended on. Ova 
may be prematurely ripened by excitement of the ovaries, caused by 
sexual indulgence. 

LcfC. 



100 CONCEPTION. 

The menstrual evacuation, which degenerates into a real hemor- 
rhage, becomes irregular and uncertain, as well as depraved in its 
character. Consequently, the rule that sexual union, to produce 
impregnation, must take place either immediately before or a few 
days after menstruation, admits of exceptions. It is a safe rule for 
those who desire to procreate ; but not entirely safe for those who 
would avoid it, as many, for good reasons, may. 

A Test of Health. 

Menstruation appears to be the throwing off of the fluids concerned 
in the ripening and expulsion of the ova. In a perfectly healthy state 
the menstrual fluid is very small in quantity, and somewhat tinged with 
the red coloring matter of the blood. In disease, it becomes a genuine 
hemorrhage, lasts for three or four days, or longer, with the loss of 
several ounces of blood, mingled with the proper menstrual fluid. 
There is no better test of the health of a woman than the one we 
have just given. 

In what manner the actual impregnation of the ovum takes place, 
we have no positive knowledge. Microscopic observers assert that 
they have seen the zoosperm enter the ovum by an opening left for 
that purpose. It has even been fancied that the body and tail of the 
seminal animalcule form the rudiments of the brain and spinal cord. 
Observations of the progress of foetal development warrant no such 
conclusion. If it could be established it would prove that the animal 
system of nerves was formed by the male parent and the organic by 
the female. The resemblance of children to their parents, and all the 
phenomena of hereditary transmission of qualities, prove that both 
f -rents are concerned in the production of every part. 

We have, then, two objects here of microscopic minuteness. One 
i.' he germinal point in the female ovum ; the other is the zoosperm, 
Oi some portion of it. In each of these minute organizations are 
comprised the elements of a glorious and immortal being. Each 
contains, moreover, the rudiments of the very form and qualities of 
that being, physical, moral and mtellectual. There, in that point of 



9 


"\^ _ 




, ^w H^^^^ 


-^ 



SWEET SIXTEEN 




CONSULTING HER PROGRAMME 



CONCEPTION. 101 

matter, that pellucid ceu, we have the shape and air, the talents and 
genius, tiie honesty or roguery-, the pride or humility, the benevolence 
or selfishness of the future man. We have what determines the form 
of his hp.ad and hands, the contour of his nose and chin, the color of 
his eye ana hair. Moreover, this spermatic animalcule, or this eel- 
germ, has all hereditary idiosyncrasies and diseases — gout, scrofula, 
venereal taint, or insanity. 

Life and Character in the Germ and Spermatozoon. 

We can scarcely conceive of this, yet we must admit it. All the 
grand and energetic qualities that made a Caesar or a Napoleon— all 
that can be fairly attributed to blood and birth, to hereditary influ- 
ences — must have been contained in one or both these atoms. 

We do not ^mderrate the influences that may act upon the foetus 
during gestation. We give full credit to the power of education in 
forming the human character, but we assert that all which makes the 
basis of the character, mental and physical, must reside in the germ 
and the spermatozoon, and must combine at the moment of impreg- 
nation, or the union of these principles. 

For all the qualities of soul and body which make the differences 
between a mouse, a dog, a horse, an elephant, must be in their ger- 
minal principles. The appearance of the zoosperms in different 
animals varies slightly under the microscope — that cf the ova scarcely 
at all. Moreover, when two nearly allied species of animals engen- 
der — when, for example, the zoosperm of the ass unites with the ovum 
of the mare — each parent is found to contribute to the mental and 
physical qualities of the offspring. In all crossings of different breeds 
of animals, we find the same effects produced, the more powerful 
impressing themselves most strongly, and the two sexes giving each 
certain peculiar characteristics. 

Nor is this by any means less notably the fact in the human species. 
When sexua^ commerce takes place between a negro and a white 
woman, the child partakes of the mental and physical qualities of 
botiu 



102 CONCEPTION. 

If we do not understand the process by which the union of the male 
and female elements is accomplished, in the generation of the new 
being, the conditions under which it must take place are more clear to 
us. From a multitude of observations it appears : 

1. That the ovum, in a state of healthy maturity, must h-'^ve been 
set free from the ovary. This is not the case with some of the lower 
animals. There are insects in whom a single act of the male will 
fecundate successive generations. In birds, the male principle seems 
to be added before the egg is mature. 

2. The sperma must be recent, and must contain living, active 
zoosperms. 

3. The smallest quantity, and probably a single zoosperm, is suffi- 
cient, if it comes in contact with the ovum. 

4. It is not necessary that there should be any enjoyment of coition 
on the part of the female. Women who have none, seem even more 
prolific than others. It may take place in sleep, or other insensibility. 
In men, also, the orgasm may be accompanied with no pleasure, and 
even with pain. 

5. Even the sexual union is not indispensable. There is no doubt 
that a female ovum may be impregnated by semen conveyed to it 
artificially ; and a woman, if she chose, might have a child without 
ever coming into personal contact with a man. This has been shown 
in animals by abundant experiments, and is said to have occurred in 
human subjects. There is, however, not the slightest reason to doubt 
the result, if the experiment were fairly tried. 

Points to be Considered. 

There are a few other points of interest which may as well be dis- 
cussed here as elsewhere. Few questions are of more practical 
importance to the human race than under what circumstances the 
generative act should be performed. We will give our opinion 
briefly, stating the reasons where they are not self-evident or 
apparent. 

I . The generative act should be performed by two persons arrived 



CONCEPTION. 103 

at a full development of their powers, physical and intellectual. The 
children of young and immature parents are apt to be weak and scrofu- 
lous. Age cannot be given as an absolute index of maturity, and there 
are some who are never mature. 

2. It should be performed w^ith all the attraction and charm of a 
mutual love ; and the existence of this is the best evidence that the 
parties are suitably related to each other ; for those similarities of con- 
stitution, which forbid the marriage of near relations, and which often 
exist without consanguinity, and are sometimes wanting with it, also 
prevent a true love. Hence, marriages of family interest, convenience, 
similarity of tastes, and friendship, may be very unfortunate with 
respect to children. Love and its functions require a mingling of 
opposite qualities. No man ought ever to beget a child for a woman 
he does not love ; and, especially, no woman ought ever to submit to 
sexual embrace of a man, unless assured that the union is sanctioned 
by a mutual affection. 

3. It should not be performed by man or woman so as to entail 
hereditary disease upon their offspring. Insanity, scrofula, consump- 
tion, syphilis, diseased amativeness, deformities of body, or distressing 
singularities of mind, should not be entailed upon posterity. 

4. A woman should avoid conception if her pelvis is so small or so 
deformed as to hazard her own life in delivery, or destroy that of the 
child, or compel an abortion. 

5. In the present social state, men and women should refrain from 
having children, unless they see a reasonable prospect of giving them 
suitable nurture and education. We have no right to inflict an injury 
upon an individual or society. 

How Prevented. 

But how is pregnancy to be prevented ? There is one way that is 
natural, simple and effectual. It is to refrain from the sexual act. It 
vs easily done by most women and by many men. In every civilized 
community thousands live in celibacy, many from necessity, many 
Crom choice. In England and the older American States, there is a 



104 CONCEPTION. 

large surplus female population. In Catholic countries the whole 
priesthood and great numbers of religious, of both sexes, take vows of 
perpetual chastity. This practice has existed for at least sixteen 
centuries. 

We have shown that in ordinary cases conception can only take 
place when connection is had a day or two before, or ten, or, for 
safety's sake, say sixteen days after menstruation. There is, then, a 
'ortnight each month, when the female is not liable to impregnation ; 
but it must be remembered that if she is amatively excited in this 
interval, the ripening of the ova may be hastened, and the very result 
precipitated that it is intended to avoid. 

Limiting the Number of Children. 

And it is also to be observed that the natural period for sexual 
union is when it is demanded for the purpose of procreation, and that 
the use of marriage or the sexual act for mere pleasure, and using any 
means to avoid impregnation, are unnatural. It is questionable, there- 
fore, whether we can morally justify the use of any means to prevent 
conception. If it can ever be justified it is when a woman is unwill- 
ingly compelled to submit to the embraces of her husband, while her 
health or other conditions forbid her to have children. 

The limitation of the number of children is advocated as a right and 
a duty by a class of social reformers, who, at the same time, insist 
upon the right and even duty of frequent gratification of the amative 
propensities by all persons who have arrived at the age of puberty. 
Virtue, chastity, continence, they denounce as unnatural and mis- 
chievous. 

We hold, on the contrary, that the law of a pure and unper- 
verted nature is the law of chastity, and that it is consistent with 
the highest health, and the best bodily, mental, and moral condi- 
tion of men and women ; and that men and women can and ought 
to be as natural and moral at least as the lower orders of the 
animal creation. 

The secular philanthropists who teach that it is not only right, but 



CONCEPTION. loa 

the duty of all persons, married or single, from the age of pi^berty, to 
have frequent and regular exercise of amativeness ; who hold that 
what good men in all ages have called virtue is a vice, that chastity is 
wickedness and continence criminality, and that lewdness, fornication 
and adultry are moral duties, are obliged also to advocate the use of 
preventive checks to an increase of population. 

On the subject of prevention a well known authority says : "In the 
human female it is supposed that the speimatozoa will retain then 
moving power for thirty-six hours after coitus, or connection with 
the male. Common water at low temperature rapidiy arrests their 
movements, while dilute saline solutions, or sugar and water, on the 
other hand, appear to have very little influence upon their actions. 
The chemical agents are the only ones that have positive injurious 
effects upon the movements of spermatozoa. They not only stop 
their operations but dissolve their structure and change their composi- 
tion. For instance, alcohol, acids, metallic salts, narcotics and 
strychnine have similar effects to common cold water. Mineral and 
vegetable acids destroy the life of the semen as readily as electricity." 



CHAPTER X. 
Pregnancy. 

Cetsatlon of Menses — Moming Sickness — Pains in the Breast — Quickening--- l^lui^ 
terijg Motions — Flatulence — Increase in Size — Emaciation — Heartburn — Mor- 
bid ^^.ongings — Excitability of Mind — Suitable Clothing — Ablutions — Air qnd 
Exercise- -Evils of Ind )lence — Ventilation and Drainage — Horrid Odtjrs-— > 
Disinfectants — Pain a Warning — Hotbeds of Disease — Pure Water — Benefits 
of Rest — ^What to Eat — Spices and Condiments — Abuse of Stimulants— Ivest- 
lessness b;nd Sleep. 

'jX HEALTHY married woman, during the period of child-bear- 

rjL ^^g> suddenly '*ceasing-to-be-unwell," is of itself alone almost 

a sure and certain sign of pregnancy — -requiring but little else 

besides to confirm jt. This fact is well known by all who have had 

children— they base their predictions and their calculations upon it, 

and upon it alone, a.id are, in consequence, seldom deceived. 

But as " ceasing-to-be-unwell" may proceed from other causes than 
that of pregnancy — such as disease or disorder of the womb, or of 
other organs of the body— especially of the lungs — it is not by itself 
alone entirely to be depended upon ; although, as a single sign, it is, 
especially if the patient be healthy, the most reliable of all the 
signs of pregnancy. 

The next symptom is morning sickness. This is one of the earliest 
symptoms of pregnancy, as it sometimes occurs a few days, and, 
indeed, generally not later than a fortnight or three weeks after con- 
ception. Morning sickness is frequently distressing, oftentimes 
amounting to vomiting and causing a loathing of breakfast. This 
«;ign usually disappears after the first three or four months. Morning 
sickness is not always present in pregnancy, but, nevertheless, it is a 
frequent accompaniment, and many who have had families place more 
reliance on this than on any other symptom. Morning sickness is one 
of the earliest, if not the very earliest, symptom of pregnancy, and is 
by some ladies taken as their starting-point from which to commence 
jaaking their " count." 

106 ' 



PREGNANCY. 107 

Morning sickness, then, if it does not arise from a disordered 

stomach, is one of the most trustworthy signs of pregnancy. A 

lady who has once had morning sickness can always for the future 

distinguish it from each and from every other sickness ; it is a peculiar 

sickness, which no other sickness can simulate. Moreover, it is 

emphatically a morning-sickness — the patient being, as a rule, foi the 

rest of the day entirely free from sickness, or from the feeling of 

sickness. 

Darting Pains in the Breast. 

A third symptom is shooting, throbbing and lancinating pains, and 
enlargement of the breast, with soreness of the nipples, occurring 
about the second month, and in some instances, after the first few 
months, a small quantity of watery fluid, or a little milk, may be 
squeezed out of them. This latter symptom, in a first pregnancy, is 
valuable, and can generally be relied on as conclusive that the female 
is pregnant. It is not so valuable in an after pregnancy, as a little 
milk might, even should she not be pregnant, remain in the breasts 
for some months after she has weaned her child. 

Mi/k in the breast — however small it might be in quantity — is, espe- 
cially in a first pregnancy, a very reliable sign ; indeed, ive might go so 
far as to say a certain sign of pregnancy. The veins of the breast 
look more blue, and are conseauently more conspicuous than usual, 
giving the bosom a motUed aj)pcarance. The breasts themselves are 
firmer and more knotty to the touch. The nipples, in the majority of 
cases, look more healthy than customary, and are somewhat elevated 
and enlarged ; there is generally a slight moisture upon their surface,^ 
sufficient in some instances to mark the linen. 

Dark Circle Around the Nipple. 

A dark-brown areola or disc may usually be noticed around the 
nipple, the change of color commencing about the second month 
The tint at first is light brown, which gradually deepens in intensity, 
until towards the end of pregnancy the color may be very dark. Dr. 
Montgomery, who has paid great attention to the subject, observes : 



108 PREGNANCY. 

•• During the progress of the next two or three months the changes 
in the areola are in general perfected, or nearly so, and then it pre- 
sents the following characters : A circle around the nipple, whose color 
varies in intensity according to the particular complexion of the indi- 
vidual, being usually much darker in persons with black hair, dark 
eyes and sallow skin, than in those of fair hair, light-colored eyes and 
delicate complexion. The area of this circle varies in diameter from 
an inch to an inch and a half, and increases in most persons as preg- 
nancy advances, as does also the depth of color. There is a puffy 
turgescence, not only of the nipple, but of the whole surrounding 
disc." 

A dark-brown areola or mark around the nipple is one of the dis- 
tinguishing signs of pregnancy — -Tnore especially of a first pregnancy. 
Women who have had large families/ seldom, even when they are 
not enceinte^ lose this mark entirely, but when they are pregnant it is 
more intensely dark — the darkest brown — especially if they be 
brunettes. 

The Period of Quickening. 

A fourth symptom is quickening. This generally occurs about the 
completion of the fourth calendar month ; frequently a week or two 
before the end of that period, at other times a week or two later. A 
lady sometimes quickens as early as the third month, while others, 
although rarely, quicken as late as the fifth, and in very rare cases, 
the sixth month. It will, therefore, be seen that there is an uncer- 
tainty as to the period of quickening, although, as we before remarked, 
the usual period occurs either on or more frequently a week or two 
before the completion of the fourth calendar month of pregnancy. 

Quickening is one of the most important signs of pregnancy, and 
one of the most valuable, as the moment she quickens, as a rule, she 
first feels the motion of the child, and at the same time she suddenly 
becomes increased in size. Quickening is a proof that she is nearly 
half her time gone ; and if she be able to miscarry, quickening 
makes her more safe, as she is less likely to miscarry after than before 
she has quickened. 




run SERKNADB 




A LOVELY FLOWLR CAST IN HUMAN MOULD.' 



PREGNANCY. 109 

A lady at this time frequently either feels faint or actually faints 
away ; she is often either giddy or sick or nervous, and, in some 
instances, even hysterical, although, in some rare cases, some women 
do not even know the precise time when they quicken. 

A Peculiar Fluttering. 

The sensation of " quickening " is said by many ladies to resemble 
the fluttering of a bird ; by others, it is likened to either a heaving, or 
beating, or rearing, or leaping sensation; accompanied, sometimes, 
with a frightened feeling. These flutterings, or heavings, or beatings, 
or leapings, after the first day of quickening, usually come on half a 
dozen or a dozen times a day, although it might happen for days 
together, the patient does not feel the movement of the child at all, 
or if she does, but very slightly. 

The more frequent description a lady, when slie has first "quickened,'* 
gives of her feelings is, that it is more like " the flutterings of a bird ; " 
when she is about another month gone with child — that is to say, in 
her sixth month — that it more resembles **a leaping in the womb," or^ 
in the expressive language of the Bible, ** the babe leaped in ]^ 
womb." The difference of the sensation between "fluttering" and 
"leaping" might in this wise be accounted for; the child between 
four and five months is scarcely old enough, or strong enough, to 
leap — he is only able to flutter ; but when the mother is in the sixth 
month (as the case recorded in the Holy Scriptures), the child is 
stronger, and he is able to leap ; hence the reason why he at first 
flutters and after a time leaps. 

What Causes Quickening. 

"Quickening" arises from the ascent of the womb higher into the 
abdomen, as, from the increased size, there is not room for it below. 
Moreover, another cause of quickening is, the child has reached a 
further stage of development and has, in consequence, become stronger 
both in its muscular and nervous structure, so as to have strength and 
motion of his Hmbs powerful enough to kick and plunge about the 



110 PREGNANCY. 

womb, and thus to give the sensation of "quickening." The old- 
fashioned idea was that the child was not alive until a woman had 
quickened. This is a mistaken notion, as he is alive, or "quick," 
from the very commencement of his formation. 

Flatulence has sometimes misled a young wife to fancy that she has 
quickened ; but, in determining whether she be pregnant, she ought 
never to be satisfied with one symptom alone ; if she be, she will 
frequently be misled. The following are a few of the symptoms that 
will distinguish the one from the other : In flatulence, the patient is 
small one hour and large the next ; while in pregnancy the enlarge- 
ment is persistent, and daily and gradually increases. In flatulence, 
on pressing the bowels firmly, a rumbling of wind may be heard 
which will move about at will ; while the enlargement of the womb in 
pregnancy is solid, resistent, and stationary. In flatulence on tapping 
— percussing — the abdomen, there will be a hollow sound elicited, as 
from a drum; while in pregnancy it will be a dull, heavy sound, as 
from thrumming on a table. In flatulence, if the points of the fingers 
be firmly pressed into the belly, the wind will wobble about; in preg- 
nancy, they will be resisted as by a wall of flesh. 

Increased Size of the Abdomen. 

The fifth symptom is, immediately after the quickening, increased 
size and hardness of the abdomen. An accumulation of fat covering 
the belly has sometimes led a lady to suspect that she is pregnant, 
but the soft and doughy feeling of the fat is very different to the hard- 
ness, solidity and resistence of the pressure of pregnancy. Increased 
size and hardness of the belly is very characteristic of pregnancy. 
When a lady is not pregnant the belly is soft and flaccid ; when she 
is pregnant, and after she has quickened, the belly over the region of 
the womb is hard and resisting. 

The sixth symptom is pouting or protrusion of the navel. This 
symptom does not occur until some time after a lady has quickened * 
indeed, for the first two months of pregnancy the naval is drawn in 
and depressed. As the pregnancy advances, the navel gradually comes 



PREGNANCY. Ill 

more forward. The navel, according to the progress of the preg- 
nancy, is constantly emerging till it comes to an even surface with the 
integuments of the abdomen, and to this circumstance much regard 
is to be paid in cases of doubtful pregnancy. 

Loss of Flesh. 

The seventh symptom is emaciation ; the face, especially the nose, 
pinched and pointed, features altered, a pretty woman becoming, 
for a time, plain ; these unbecoming appearances generally occur in 
the early months — the face, as the pregnancy advances, gradually 
resuming its pristine comeliness. Emaciation, of course, may, and 
does occur from other causes, besides those of pregnancy ; but still, 
if there be emaciation, together with other signs of pregnancy, it 
tends to confirm the patient in her convictions that she is enceinte. 

Many a plump lady, then, tells of her pregnancy by her sudden 
emaciation. There is one comfort, as soon as the pregnancy is over, 
if not before, the body usually regains the former plumpness. 

The eighth symptom is irritability of the bladder, which is some- 
times one of the early signs of pregnancy, as it is, likewise, fre- 
quently one of the early symptoms of labor. The irritability of the 
bladder, in early pregnancy, is oftentimes very distressing and very 
painful — the patient being disturbed from her sleep several times in 
the night to make water, making generally but a few drops at a 
time. This symptom usually leaves her as soon as she has quick- 
ened, to return again — but, in this latter instance, usually without 
pain — -just before the commencement of labor. 

A Simple Remedy. 

There is very little to be done, in such cases, in the way of relief 
One of the best remedies is, a small teaspoonful of sweet spirits of 
nitre in a wineglassful of water, taken at bed-time. Drinking plenti- 
fully, as a beverage, of barley water with best gum arabic dissolved in 
it — half an ounce of gum to every pint of barley water — the gum 
arabic being dissolved in the barley water by putting them both in 



112 PREGNANCY. 

a saucepan over the fire, stirring the while until the gum be dissolved. 
This beverage may be sweetened according to taste, either with sugar- 
candy or with lump sugar. 

Sleepiness, heartburn, increased flow of saliva (amounting, in some 
cases, even to salivation), toothache, loss of appetite, longings, excita- 
bility of mind, liver- or sulphur-colored patches on the skin, and likes 
and dislikes in eating — either the one or the other of these symptoms 
frequently accompany pregnancy ; but, as they might arise from other 
causes, they are not to be relied on further than this — that if they 
attend the more certain signs of pregnancy, such as cessation of being 
" regular," morning sickness, pains and enlargement of and milk in 
the breasts, the gradually darkening brown areola or mark around the 
nipple, etc., they will then make assurance doubly sure, and a lady 
may know for certain that she is pregnant. 

Sleepiness often accompanies pregnancy — the patient being able to 
sleep in season and out of season — often falling asleep while in com- 
pany, so that she can scarcely keep her eyes open. 

A Disagreeable Ailment. 

Some pregnant ladies are much afflicted with heartburn, ior affliction 
it assuredly is ; but heartburn, as a rule, although very disagreeable, 
is rather a sign that the patient will go her time. Moreover, heart- 
burn is very amenable to treatment, and is generally much relieved by 
ammonia and soda. 

Increased flow of saliva is sometimes a symptom of pregnancy, 
amounting, in rare cases, to regular salivation ; the patient being, for 
a time, in a pitiable condition. It lasts usually for days ; but, some 
times, even for weeks, but is not at all dangerous. 

Some ladies have, during pregnancy — more especially during the 
early months — wretched appetites ; they regularly loathe their food, 
and dread the approach of meal-times. While others, on the con- 
trary, eat more heartily during pregnancy than any other period oi 
their lives — they are absolutely ravenous, and can scarcely satisfy 
their hunger. 



PREGNANCY. 113 

The longings of a pregnant lady are sometimes truly absurd ; but 
like almost everything else, *'it grows upon what it is fed." They 
long for sucking pig, for the cracklings of pork, for raw carrots and 
raw turnips, for raw meat — for anything and for everything that is 
unwholesome, and that they would at any other time loathe and turn 
away from in disgust. The best plan of treatment for a pregnant 
lady, who has longings, to adopt is, not to give way to such longings, 
unless, indeed, the longings be of a harmless, simple nature, and 
they then will soon pass harmlessly by. 

Mental Excitement. 

Excitability of mind is very common in pregnancy, more especially 
if the patient be delicate ; indeed, excitability is a sign of debility, and 
requires plenty of good nourishment, but few stimulants. 

Likes and dislikes in eating are of frequent occurrence in pregnancy 
— particularly in early pregnancy — more especially if the patient has 
naturally a weak digestion. If her digestion be weak, she is sure to 
have a disordered stomach — one following the other in regular 
sequence. A little appropriate medicine, from a medical man, will 
rectify the evil and improve the digestion, and thus do away with 
the likes and dislikes in eating. Liver- or sulphur-colored patches on 
the skin — principally on the face, neck and throat — are tell-tales of 
pregnancy, and to an experienced matron, publish the fact that an 
acquaintance thus marked is enceinte. 

The Best Clothing. 

Some newly-married wives, to hide their pregnancy from their 
friends and acquaintances, screw themselves up in tight stays and in 
tight dresses. Now, this is not only foolish, but it is dangerous, and 
might cause either a miscarriage, or a premature labor, or a cross- 
birth, or a bearing-down of the w^omb. A wife, then, more especially 
during pregnancy, should, to the br I'^ts and to the abdomen, 
"Give ample room and verge enough." 
A lady who is pregnant ought on no account to wear tight dresses, 
8 



114 PREGNANCY. 

as the child should have plenty of room. She ought to be, as 
enceifiie signifies, incincta, or unbound. Let the clothes be adapted to 
the gradual development, both of the abdomen and the breasts. She 
must, whatever she may usually do, wear her stays loose. If there 
be bones in the stays, let them be removed. Tight lacing is injurious 
both to the mother and to the child, and frequently causes the former 
to miscarry ; at another time it has produced a cross-birth ; and some- 
times it has so pressed in the nipples as to prevent a proper develop- 
ment of them, so that where a lady has gone her time, she has been 
unable to suckle her infant, the attempt often causing a gathered 
breast. 

Health Should Govern Dress. 

These are great misfortunes, and entail great misery both on the 
mother and the child (if it has not already killed him), and ought to 
be a caution and a warning to every lady for the future. But the 
great thing is for a mother to begin from the beginning, and for her 
to never allow her daughter to wear stays at all, and then those 
painful consequences could not possibly ensue. If stays had never 
been inv^ented, how much misery, deformity, disease, and death might 
have been averted ! 

The feet and the legs during pregnancy are very apt to swell and 
to be painful, and the veins of the leg? to be largely distended. The 
garters ought at such times to be worn slack, as tight garters are 
highly injurious ; and if the veins be very much distended, it will be 
necessary for her to wear a properly-adjusted elastic silk stocking, 
made purposely to fit her foot and leg, and which a medical man will 
himself procure for her. It is highly necessary that a well-fitting 
elastic stocking be worn ; otherwise it will do more harm than good. 
The feet and legs, in such a case, should, during the day, be frequently 
rested, either on a leg-rest, or on a footstool, or on a sofa. 

A warm bath in pregnancy is too relaxing. A tepid bath once a 
week is beneficial. Sponging the whole of the body every morning 
with lukewarm water may with safety and advantage be adopted, 
gradually reducing the temperature of the water until it be used quite 



PREGNANCY. 115 

cold. The skin should, with moderately coarse towels, be quickly 
but thoroughly dried. 

The sitz-bath ought every morning to be used. The patient should 
first sponge herself, and then finish up by sitting for a few seconds, or 
while in the winter she can count fifty, or while in the summer she 
can count a hundred in the water. It is better not to be long in it ; it 
is a slight shock that is required, which, where the sitz-bath agrees, is 
immediately followed by an agreeable glow of the whole body. If 
she sit in the water for a long time, she becomes chilled and tired, and 
is very likely to catch cold. 

Precautions in Bathing. 

She ought, until she becomes accustomed to the cold, to have a 
dash of warm water added ; but the sooner she can use quite cold 
water the better. While sitting in the bath she should throw either 
a woolen shawl or a small blanket over her shoulders. She will find 
the greatest comfort and benefit from adopting the above recom- 
mendation. Instead of giving, it will prevent cold, and it will be 
one of the means of warding off a miscarriage, and of keeping her 
in good health. 

A shower-bath in pregnancy gives too great a shock, and might 
induce a miscarriage. We should not recommend for a lady who 
is pregnant, sea-bathing ; nevertheless, if she be delicate, and if she 
be prone to miscarry, change of air to the coast (provided it be not 
too far away from home), and inhaling the sea-breezes, may brace 
her, and ward off the tendency. But although sea-bathing be not 
desirable, sponging the body with sea-water may be of great service 
to her. 

Air and Exercise. 

A young wife, in her first pregnancy, usually takes too long walks. 
This is a common cause of flooding, of miscarriage, and of bearing- 
down of the womb. As soon, therefore, as a lady has the slightest 
suspicion that she is enceinte, she must be careful in the taking oX 
exercise. 



lie PREGNANCY. 

Although long walks are injurious, she ought not to run into an 
opposite extreme — short, gentle and frequent walks during the whole 
period of pregnancy cannot be too strongly recommended ; indeed, a 
lady who is enceinte ought to live half her time in the open air. Fresh 
air and exercise prevent many of the unpleasant symptoms attendant 
on that state ; they keep her in health ; they tend to open her bowels, 
and they relieve the sensation of faintness and depression. 

Exercise, fresh air and occupation are, then, essentially necessary in 
pregnancy. If they be neglected, hard and tedious labors are likely 
to ensue. One, and an important reason of the easy and quick labors 
and rapid '* gettings about" of poor women, is greatly due to the 
abundance of exercise and of occupation which they are both daily and 
hourly obliged to get through. Why, many a poor woman thinks 
but little of a confinement, while a rich one is full of anxiety about the 
result. Let the rich lady adopt the poor woman's industrious and 
abstemious habits, and labor need not then be looked forward to, as it 
frequently now is, either with dread or with apprehension. 

Stooping, lifting of heavy weights and overreaching ought to be 
carefully avoided. Running, horse-exercise and dancing are likewise 
dangerous — they frequently induce a miscarriage. 

Indolence and Weakness. 

Indolence is most injurious in pregnancy. It is impossible for a 
pregnant lady, who is reclining all day on a sofa or on an easy chair, 
to be strong ; such a habit is most enervating to the mother and 
weakening to her unborn babe. It is the custom of some ladies, as 
soon as they become enceinte^ to iancy themselves and to treat them- 
selves as confirmed invalids, and to lie down, in consequence, the 
greater part of every day ; now this plan, instead of refreshing them, 
depresses them exceedingly. Now, the only time for them to lie 
down is occasionally in the day when they are really tired, and when 
they absolutely need the refreshment of rest — 

" The sedentary stretch their lazy length 
When Custom bids, but no refreshment fillil» 
Far none they need • ' 



PREGNANCY. 117 

A lady who, during the greater part of the day, lolls either on a 
BGia or on an easy chair, and who seldom walks out, has a much 
more Imgering and painful labor than one who takes moderate an^ 
regular open-air excercise, and who attends to her household duties. 
An active life is, then, the principal reason why the wives of the pool 
have such quick and easy labors, and such good recoveries ; why 
their babies are so rosy, healthy and strong, notwithstanding thf 
privations and hardships and poverty of the parents. 

Advantages of Activity. 

Bear in mind, that a lively, active woman has an easier and quicker 
labor md a finer race of children than one who is lethargic and indo- 
lent. Idleness brings misery, anguish and suffering in iu train, and 
particularly affects pregnant ladies. Oh, that these words would have 
due weight, then this book will not have been written in vain I The 
hardest work in the world is having nothing to do, " Idle people 
have the most labor ; " this is particularly true in pregnancy ; a lady 
will, when labor actually sets in, find to her cost that idleness has 
given her the most labor. 

Says quaint old Burton : " Idleness is the badge of gentry, the 
bane of body and mind, the nurse of Naughtiness, the stepmother 
of Discipline, the chief author of all Mischief, one of the seven deadly 
sins, the cushion upon which the Devil chiefly reposes, and a great 
cause, not only of Melancholy, but of many other diseases, for the 
^mind is naturally active, and if it be not occupied about some honest 
business, it rushes into Mischief or sinks into Melancholy." 

A lady sometimes looks upon pregnancy more as a disease than as 
a natural process ; hence, she treats herself as though she were a 
regular invalid, and, unfortunately, she too often makes herself really 
one by improper and by foolish indulgences. 

Ventilation — Drainage. 

Let a lady look well to the ventilation of her house ; let her take 
^re tha^ every chimney be unstopped and during the daytime that 



118 PREGNANCY. 

every window in every unoccupied room be thrown open. Where 
there is a skylight at the top of the house it is well to have it made to 
open and to shut, so that in the daytime it may, winter and summer, 
be always open ; and in the summer-time it may, day and night, be 
left unclosed. Nothing so thoroughly ventilates and purifies a house 
as an open skylight. 

If a lady did but know the importance — the vital importance — of 
ventilation, she would see that the above directions were carried out to 
the very letter. Our firm belief is, that if more attention wert paid 
to ventilation — to thorough ventilation — child-bed fever would be an 
almost unknown disease. The cooping-up system is abominable ; it 
engenders all manner of infectious and loathsome diseases, and not 
only engenders them, but feeds them, and thus keeps them alive. 

There is nothing wonderful in all this, if we consider, but for one 
moment, the exhalations from the lungs are poisonous ; that is to say, 
the lungs give off carbonic acid gas (a deadly poison), which, if it be 
not allowed to escape out of the room, must over and over again be 
breathed. That, if the perspiration of the body (which in twenty-four 
hours amounts to two or three pounds) be not permitted to escape 
out of the apartment, it must become foetid — repugnant to the nose, 
sickening to the stomach, and injurious to the health. How often 
the nose is a sentinel, and warns its owner of approaching danger. 

Use of Disinfectants, 

Verily the nose is a sentinel. The Almighty has sent bad smells 
lOr our benefit to warn us of our danger. If it were not for an 
unpleasant smell, we should be constantly running into destruction. 
How often we hear of an ignorant person using disinfectants and fumi- 
gations to deprive drains and other horrid places of their odors ; as 
though, if the place could be robbed of its smell, it could be robbed 
of its danger. Strange infatuation. No ; the frequent flushings of 
drains, the removal of nuisances, cleanliness, a good scrubbing of soap 
and water, sunshine, and the air and winds of heaven, are the be§t 
disinfectants in the world 



PREGNANCY. 119 

A celebrated and eccentric lecturer on surgei;^ — Abernethy — iu 
tddressing his class, made the following quaint and sensible remark : 
' Fumigations, gentlemen, are of essential importance ; they make so 
abominable a stink, that they compel you to open the windows and 
admit fresh air." Truly the nose of a man is a sentinel, 

* 'And the foetid vapors of the fen 
Warn him to fly from danger." 

The right way to do away with the danger is to remove the cause, 
and the effect will cease ; flushing a sewer is far more efficacious than 
disinfecting one. Soap and water and the scrubbing brush, and sun- 
shine and thorough ventilation, each and all are far more beneficial 
than either permanganate of potash, or chloride of zinc, or chloride of 
lime. People, now-a-days, think too much of disinfectants, and too 
little of removal of causes ; they think too much /)f artificial, and too 
little of natural means. It is a sad mistake to lean so much on, and 
to trust so much to man's inventions. 

Benefits of Pain. 

Not only is the nose a sentinel, but pain is a sentinel. The sense 
of pain is necessary to our very existence ; we should, if it were not 
for pain, be constantly falling into many and great and grievous 
dangers ; we should, if it were not for pain, be running into the fire 
and be burned ; we should, if it were not for pain, swallow hot fluids 
and be scalded ; we should, if it were not for pain, be constantly 
letting things " go the wrong way," and be suffocated ; we should, if 
it were not for pain, allow foreign substances to enter the eye and be 
blinded ; we should, if it were not for pain, be lulled to a false secur- 
ity, and allow disease to go on unchecked and untended until we had 
permitted the time to pass by when remedies were of little or no avail. 

Pain is a sentinel, and guards us from danger ; pain is like a true 
friend, who sometimes gives a little pain to save a greater pain ; pain 
sometimes resembles the surgeon's knife — it gives pain to cure pain ; 
sense of pain is a blessed provision of nature, and is designed for the 
protection, preservation and prolongation of life. 



120 PREGNANCY, 

If a lady, while on an errand of mercy, should, in the morning, ^o 
into a poor person's bedroom after he, she or they (for oftentimes the 
room is crowded to suffocation) have, during the night, been sleeping, 
and where a breath of air is not allowed to enter — the chimney and 
every crevice having been stopped up — and where too much attention 
has not been paid to personal cleanliness, she will experience a faint- 
ness, an oppression, a sickness, a headache, a terrible foetid smell : 
indeed, she is in a poisoned chamber. It is an odor std generis, which 
must be smelt to be remembered, and will, then, never be forgotten. 
" The rankest compound of villainous smell that ever offended 
nostril." 

Exhalations from the Body. 

Pity the poor who live in such sties — not fit for pigs. For pigs* 
sties are ventilated. But take warning, ye well-to-do in the world, 
and look well to the ventilation, or beware of the consequences. 
** If," says an able writer on fever in the last century, " any person 
will take the trouble to stand in the sun, and look at his own shadow 
on a whole plastered wall, he will easily perceive that his whole body 
is a smoking dunghill, with a vapor exhaling from every part of it. 
This vapor is subtle, acrid and offensive to the smell ; if retained in 
the body it becomes morbid, but if re-absorbed, highly deleterious. 
If a number of persons, therefore, are long confi_ned in any close place, 
not properly ventilated, so as to inspire and swallow with their spittle 
the vapors of each other, they must soon feel its bad effects." 

Contagious diseases are bred and fed in badly- ventilated houses. 
Ill-ventilated houses are hotbeds of diseases. Contagion is subtle, 
quick, invisible and inscrutable — tremendous in its effects ; it darts its 
poison like a rattlesnake, and instantly the body is infected, and the 
strong giant suddenly becomes as helpless as the feeble infant : 
" Even so quickly may one catch the plague." 

Not only should a lady look well to the ventilation of her house, 
but either she or her husband ought to ascertain that the drains are in 
good and perfect order, and that the privies are frequently emptied of 
their contents, and that neither drain-fluids nor privy-fluid communi- 



PREGNANCY. 121 

cates, in any way whatever, with the drinking-water supply. If it, 
unfortunately, should do so, the well is poisoned, breeding pestilence 
and filling our graveyards with corpses. 

Sure Sources of Disease. 

Bad drainage and overflowing privies are fruitful sources of child- 
bed fever, of gastric fever, of scarlatina, of diphtheria, of cholera and 
of a host of other infectious and contagious and dangerous diseases. 
It is an abominable practice to allow dirt to fester near human habit- 
ations ; more especially as dirt when mixed with earth is really so 
valuable in fertilizing the soil. 

Drain-poison is so instantaneous in its effects, so subtle in its 
operations, so deadly in its consequences, so untiring in its labors — 
working both day and night — that it may well be said to be ''the 
pestilence that walketh in darkness," and " the sickness that destroyeth 
in the noon-day." 

The Water Must Be Absolutely Pure. 

A lady ought to look well to the purity of her pump-water, and to 
ascertain that no drain either enters or percolates, or contaminates in 
any way whatever, the spring ; if it should do so, disease, such as 
either cholera, or diarrhoea, or dysentery, or diphtheria, or scarlet 
fever, or gastric fever, will, one or the other, as a matter of course, 
ensue. If there be the slightest danger or risk of drain contamination, 
whenever it be practicable, let the drain be taken up and be exam- 
ined, and let the defect be carefully rectified. When it be impracti- 
cable to have the drain taken up and examined, then let the pump- 
water, before drinking it, be always previously boiled. The boiling 
of the water, as experience teaches, has the power either of destroying 
or of making innocuous the specific organic faecal life poison, which 
propagates in drain contamination the diseases above enumerated. 

The water from our American tube-well is far superior to water 
from the old pump-well ; the water from the former is always pure, 
while from the latter it is usually most impure — ^it is oftentimes little 



122 PREGNANCY. 

better than water from a cesspool, it being contaminated either with 
drainage impurities, with faecal matter, or with water from land-springs. 
Have nothing to do with the antiquated pump, which is both a 
nuisance and a danger; indeed, the pump- water being generally- 
impure, is one of the most frequent causes of diphtheria, of scarlet 
fever, of dysentery, of cholera, and gastric fever. The pump, fifty 
years hence, will be, what stage-coaches are now, things of the past — 
a curiosity. 

Necessity of Occasional Rest. 

A lady who is pregnant ought, for half an hour each time, to lie one 
or two hours every day on the sofa. This, if there be either a bear- 
ing-down of the womb, or if there be a predisposition to a miscarriage, 
will be particularly necessary. We should recommend this plan to be 
adopted throughout the whole period of her pregnancy ; in the early 
months to prevent a miscarriage, and, in the latter months, on account 
of the increased weight and size of the womb. 

The modern sofas are most uncomfortable to lie upon ; they are not 
made for comfort, but, like many other things in this world, for show ; 
one of the good, old-fashioned, roomy sofas, then, should be selected 
for the purpose, in order that the back may be properly and 
thoroughly rested. 

There is, occasionally, during the latter months, a difficulty m lying 
down, the patient feeling as though every time she makes the attempt 
she should be suffocated. When such be the case, she ought to rest 
herself upon the sofa, and be propped up with cushions, as we consider 
rest at different periods of the day necessary and beneficial. If there 
be any difficulty in lying down at night, a bed-rest, well covered with 
pillows, will be found a great comfort. 

Look Well to Your Diet. 

An abstemious diet, during the early period of pregnancy, is essen- 
tial, as the habit of body at that time is usually feverish and inflam- 
matory. We should, therefore, recommend abstinence from beer, 
porter and spirits. Let us jn this place urge a lady, during her preg- 



PREGNANCY. 12^ 

lancy, not to touch spirits, such as either brandy or gin ; they will 
only inflame her blood and will poison and make puny her unborn 
babe ; they will only give her false spirits, and will depress her in an 
increased ratio as soon as the effects of the brandy or of the gin have 
passed away. She ought to eat meat only but once a day. Rich 
soups and highly-seasoned stews and dishes are injurious. 

A lady who is enceinte may depend upon it that the less stimulants 
she takes at these times the better it will be both for herself and for 
her infant ; the more kind will be her labor and her ** getting about/* 
and the more vigorous and healthy will be her child. 

Ill Effects of Overloading the Stomach. 

It is a mistaken notion that she requires more nourishment during 
early pregnancy than at any other time ; she, if anything, requires 
less. It has often been asserted that a lady who is pregnant ought to 
eat very heartily, as she has two to provide for. When it is taken 
into account that during pregnancy she "ceases to be unwell," and 
therefore that there is no drain on that score ; and when it is also 
considered how small the ovum containing the embryo is, not being 
larger for the first two or three months than a hen's ^^g, it will be 
seen how futile is the assertion. A wife, therefore, in early preg- 
nancy, does not require more than at another time ; if anything, she 
requires less. Again, during pregnancy, especially in the early stage, 
she is more or less sick, feverish, and irritable, and a superabundance 
of food would only add fuel to the fire, and would increase her sick- 
ness, fever and irritability. Moreover, she frequently suffers from 
heartburn and from indigestion. 

Can anything be more absurd, when such is the case, than to overload" 
a stomach already loaded with food it is not able to digest? No, let 
nature in this, as in everything else, be her guide, and she will not 
tiien go far wrong. When she is further advanced in her pregnancy 
— that is to say, when she has quickened — her appetite generally 
improves, and she is much better in health than she was before; 
Videed, after she has quickened, she is frequently in better health 



124 PREGNANCY. 

than she ever has been. The appetite is now increased. Nature 
points out that she requires more nourishment than she did at first ; 
for this reason, the foetus is now rapidly growing in size, and conse- 
quently requires more support from the mother. 

Let the food, therefore, of a pregnant woman be now increased in 
quantity, but let it be both light and nourishing. Occasionally, at 
this time, she has taken a dislike to meat ; if she have she ought not 
to be forced to eat it, but should have, instead, poultry, game, fish, 
chicken-broth, beef-tea, new milk, farinaceous food, such as rice, sago, 
batter-puddings, and, above all, if she have a craving for it, good 
sound, ripe fruit. 

Roasted apples, ripe pears, raspberries, strawberries, grapes, tama- 
rinds, figs. Muscatel raisins, stewed rhubarb, stewed or baked pears, 
stewed prunes, the insides of ripe gooseberries, and the juice of 
oranges are, during pregnancy, particularly beneficial; they both 
quench the thirst and tend to open the bowels. 

A^^oid Highly-seasoned Dishes. 

The food of a pregnant woman cannot be too plain ; highly-seasoned 
dishes ought therefore to be avoided. Although the food be plain, it 
must be frequently varied. She should ring the changes upon 
butcher's meat, poultry, game, and fish. It is a mistaken notion, that 
people ought to eat the same food over and over again, one day as 
another. The stomach requires variety, or disease, as a matter of 
course, will ensue. 

Light puddings, such as either rice, or batter, or suet pudding, or 
fruit puddings, provided the paste be plain, may be taken with advan- 
tage. Rich pastry is highly objectionable. Indeed, it is such, as a 
rule, to persons of strong digestion. 

If she be plethoric, abstinence is still more necessary, or she might 
have a tedious labor, or might suffer severely. The old-fashioned 
treatment was to bleed a pregnant patient if she were of a full habit of 
body. A more absurd plan could not be adopted ! Bleeding would, 
by causing more blood to be made, only increase the mischief; but 



PREGNANCY. 125 

certainly it would be blood of an inferior quality, watery and poor. 
It might in such case be truly said, that 

'* The wine of life is drawn." 

The best way to diminish the quantity of blood is to moderate the 
amount of food — to lessen the supplies ; but not, on any account, to 
leave off eating of meat for dinner ; she will, if she do, suffer both at 
and after her confinement. 

A Costly Mistake. 

We have known some ladies, during the few last months of their 
pregnancies, to abstain from meat altogether, beli-eving thereby that 
they will insure easier confinements and better *' gettings about." 
Now, this is altogether a mistake ; they are much more likely, from 
the low diet, to have more tedious and harder labors, and worse *' get- 
tings about." Not only so, but if they are kept, during the last months 
of their pregnancies, on too low a diet, they are likely to make wretched 
nurses for their children, both in quantity and in the quality of their 
milk. No ; let a lady who is enceinte adopt the best hy genie means, 
which we have, in these pages, endeavored to lay down, and she will 
then be prepared both for her coming labor and for her subsequent 
suckling. 

A pregnant lady, then, should endeavor by every means in her power 
to make herself healthy ; this is the best way to prepare for labor and 
for suckling. We are not advocating luxury, ease, and enervation — 
nothing of the kind, for we abhor luxurious living ; but, on the con- 
trary, we are recommending simplicity of living, occupation, fresh air 
and exercise, and plain, wholesome, nourishing diet ; all of which may 
be considered as nature's medicine — and splendid physic, too, it is. 

The Sleeping Apartment. 

It is a mistaken practice for a pregnant woman or tor any one else 

to sleep with closely-drawn curtains. Pure air and a frequent change 

of air are quite as necessary — if not more so — during the night as 

during the day, and how can it be pure, and how can it be changed, 



126 PREGNANCY. 

if curtains be closely drawn around the bed ? Impossible. The roof 
of the bedstead ought not to be covered with furniture; it should be 
open to the ceiling, in order to prevent any obstruction to a free circu- 
lation of air. 

The bed must not be loaded with clothes, more especially with a 
thick cov^erlet. If the weather be cold, let an extra blanket be put 
on the bed, as the perspiration can permeate through a blanket when 
it cannot through a thick coverlet. The knitted, for the summer, are 
the best kind of coverlets, as they allow the perspiration from the 
body to escape, and the eider-down, for the winter, as they are light 
and warm and ventilating. 

It is a marvel how some people, with four or five blankets and with 
thick cov^erlet on bed, can sleep at all ; their skins and lungs are 
smothered up, and are not allowed to breathe, for the skin is as much 
a breathing apparatus as are the lungs themselves. It is a sad mis- 
take, and fraught with serious consequences. 

The bedroom, at night, should be dark ; hence the importance of 
either shutters or Venetian blinds or dark blinds impervious to light, 
or thick curtains to the windows. The chamber, too, should be as far 
removed from noise as possible — as noise is an enemy to sleep. The 
room, then, should, as the poet beautifully expresses it, be ** deaf to 
noise and blind to light." 

Remedies for Restlessness. 

A lady who is pregnant is sometimes restless at night — she feels 
oppressed and hot. The best remedies are : (i) Scant clothing on 
[he bed ; (2) The lower sash of the window, during the summer 
months, to be left open to the extent of six or eight inches, and 
during the winter months, to the extent of two or three inches, pro- 
vided the room be large, the bed be neither near nor under the 
Window, and the weather be not intensely cold. If any or all of these 
latter circumstances occur, then (3) the window to be closed and the 
door to be left ajar (the landing or the skylight window at the top of 
the house being left open all night, and the door being secured from 



PREGNANCY. 127 

intrusion by means of a door-chain) ; (4) Attention to be paid, if the 
bowels be costive, but not otherwise, to a gentle action of the bowels 
by a mild aperient; (5) An abstemious diet, avoiding stimulant of all 
kinds ; (6) Gentle walking exercise ; (7) Sponging the body every 
*"*iorning, in the winter, with tepid water, and in the summer with cold 
water ; (8) Cooling fruits in the summer are, in such a case, very 
grateful and refreshing. 

A pregnant woman sometimes experiences an inability to lie down^ 
the attempt occasionally producing a feeling of suffocation and of 
faintness. She ought, under such circumstances, to lie on a bed-rest, 
which must, by means of pillows, be made comfortable ; and she 
should take every night at bedtime a teaspoonful of sal-volatile in a 
wineglassful of water. 

Must Retire Early. 

Pains at night, during the latter end of the time, are usually 
frequent, so as to make an inexperienced lady fancy that her labor 
is commencing. Little need be done, for unless the pains be 
violent, nature ought not tc be interfered with. If they be violent, 
application should be m.ade to a physician. 

A pregnant lady must retire early to rest. She ought to be in bed 
every night by ten o'clock, and should make a point of being up in 
good time in the morning, that she may have a thorough ablution, a 
stroll in the garden, and an early breakfast ; and that she may after 
wards take a short walk either in the country or in the grounds while 
the air is pure and invigorating. But how often, more especially when 
a lady is first married, is an opposite plan adopted. The importance 
of bringing a healthy child into the world, if not for her own and her 
husband's sake, should induce a wife to attend to the above remarks. 

Although some ladies, during pregnancy, are very restless, others 
are very sleepy, so that they can scarcely, even in the day, keep their 
eyes open. Fresh air, exercise and occupation are the best remedies 
for keeping them awake, and the best remedies for many other com- 
plaints besides. 



CHAPTER XI. 
The Human Ovum, or Egg. 

Bivth of Plants— How Animalcules are Formed — Amazing Number of Eggs in 
Fishes — Spontaneous Generation a Myth — Ovaries of the Human Female- 
Seminal Fluid of the Male — Reception of the Ovum by the Uterus — The 
Germinal Centre — Anatoiay of the Testes — Evolution of Spermatozoa — Result 
of Impregnation — "The Turn of Life" — Remarkable Changes at PuJi)erty— 
Woman's Organization Finer than that of Man — Peculiarities and Mission of 
Woman. 

REPRODUCTION in animals is curiously analagous to the same 
process in the vegetable kingdom. There are the same 
varieties in the modes of multiplication and generation. The 
process of generation in some of the lower animal organizations is 
exactly like the throwing out of new bulbs in plants. The polypes 
throw out buds which in a little while grow mouths, fringed with cilia 
or tentacles, while they are still holding by stalks and drawing part of 
their nourishment from their parents. When enough matured to get 
their own living they drop off, swim away, and shift for themselves. 
This is gemmation. 

Fission is a common mode of propagation or multiplication among 
the infusoria. An animalcule Is seen to contract in a ring around its 
centre ; the fissure deepens and it divides into two distinct beings, 
which also divide, and so on, multiplying with surprising rapidity. It 
has been estimated that one of these animalcules could produce by 
these successive divisions in eight weeks a progeny of two hundred 
and sixty-eight millions. 

This reproductive power is, however, almost rivalled by some fishes 
and insects. The carp lays seven hundred thousand eggs in a season, 
and lives two hundred years. The possible progeny of a pair of these 
fishes is almost beyond computation. The cod is said to produce 
from four to nine millions of eggs. The female termite lays sixty 
thousand eggs a day for a cor^stdemble period. 
128 



THE HUMAN OVUM. 



129 



Some of tnc lower animals may be multiplied artificially like vege- 
tables. Thus, if some species of the polypus are cut in pieces, each 
piece produces the missing parts so as to become a perfect animal, as 
cuttings of a geranium produce geraniums. 

But perhaps the most curious mode of multiplication takes place in 
.some sea-worms. They divide into sections by constricting rings, and 
each section forms for itself head, eyes, etc., at one extremity, and tail 
at the other, while yet the sections are united ; but when all is read^.^ 
each section sets up its own independent life, and then produces in its 




STRUCTURE OF THE WOMB AND ITS APPENDAGES. 

Dody germs of similar worms, by the more usual process, just as some 
vegetables propagate by seeds, as well as by bulbs or tubers. 



Seeds in Vegetables and Eggs in Animals. 

These modes of multiplication — fission, gemmation, etc. — such as we 
have described are, however, not the rule in nature, but the exception, 
or variation— a ruder method of the extension of life, which is confined 
to the lower forms of animal existence. As vegetables are generally 
produced from seeds, animals are generally produced from eggs. 
There is no good reason, so far as we nov\^ know, to believe that there is 
any spontaneous generation of veg-etables or animals— that is, that 
9 



130 THE HUMAN OVUM. 

any vegetable or animal ever of itself is formed from matter without 
a spore or germ which has been produced by a similar organization. 
At some time, and in some way, every kind of living form had its 
beginning ; but no one has seen such beginning. Creation is a 
mystery. Every living thing upon the earth has at sometime, some- 
where, and somehow been created ; but we do not know the when, 
the where, or the how. Human science reveals to us something of 
the phenomena of nature — nothing of its causes or beginnings. 

The Ovaries of the Female. 

As in vegetables, we find the beginning of new organization in 
the formation by the generative organs of a plant, which are in 
most cases portions of its flower, of a germ cell 
in the ovary or female organ, and of a pollen cell 
by the anther or male organ, which unite to 
form the living germ, which develops into the 
perfect plant ; so in all the higher forms of animal 
life, in oysters, fishes, insects, birds, beasts and 
men, we have germs or eggs formed in the 
ovaries of the female, which at a certain stage 
of development are impregnated, or fecundate^ 
UTERUS OF AN ^y u^ion with a similar germ, produced in a 
somewhat similar organ of the male — the male 
and female elements uniting to produce the perfect being. The unfer- 
tilized, unimpregnated or unfecundated ovum or egg quickly perishes. 
The one to which has been added the masculine element is from that 
moment endowed with life, and, with favoring conditions, develops 
with a wonderful activity. 

Fishes produce a vast number of eggs, as may be seen in the harvZ 
roe of herring, which, when they have arrived at a certain stage, are 
spawned — that is, expelled from the body in places which the fish 
instinctively find for that purpose Salmon come hundreds, perhaps 
thousands of miles through the deep ocean to lay their eggs in the 
shallow fresh water streams in which they themselves were hatched 




THE HUMAN OVUM. 131 

The male herring and salmon produce, in organs not unlike the 
ovaries, myriads of sperm cells, destined to fertilize the germ cells of 
the female. This is the soft roe — a drain-hke substance, chiefly com- 
posed of these cells. The male fishes attend the females, and fill the 
water where their eggs are laid with what seems a milky fluid. The 
two elements come into contact, perhaps by a mutual attraction, 
fecundation takes place, and, in due time, swarms of young fishes are 
the result. 

With insects and birds, the process is a little varied. The eggs are 
formed, as with the fishes, in the ovaries of the females, but at a 
certain stage they are fecundated before leaving the body, by the male 
element being conveyed to them by a process similar to that which 
takes place in flowers. The seminal fluid of the male, corresponding 
to the pollen of the plant, is conveyed to the germ 
in the ovary by means specially adapted to that 
purpose. 

After the egg has grown to its full size — in insects 
covered with a tough membrane, and in birds with a 
hard shell — it is placed in some proper nest, and 
hatched either by solar heat or the warmth of one or ^^^^ ^^^ ^'^^ 
both of the parents. Animals so born are called 
oviparous — bom from eggs. A few fishes, as the shark and skate, 
lay fecundated eggs Hke birds, with curiously formed horny shells, 
and cables for mooring. 

The Ovum Passes into the Uterus. 

With the mammalia, the higher orders of animals, including the 
human species, there is still another process. The egg or germ is 
formed in the ovary of the female. When fully formed it bursts from 
its containing membranes with a certain degree of excitement of the 
generative system, and passes through tubes provided for that pur- 
pose into a receptacle called the uterus, or womb. 

If here met by the seminal fluid, or fertilizing masculine element, 
fecundation takes place, a perfect germ is produced, foetal life begins. 




132 



THE HUMAN OVUM. 



and the animal is, so to speak, hatched in the womb of its mother, 
nourished by her blood, and grows until it is ready to come into the 
world and live its independent life. Animals so produced are called 
viviparous, or born alive. 

The young of the kangaroo, and other marsupials, are born in a 
very immature condition, and carried in a kind of bag formed upon 
the abdomen of the mother within which are the teats from which the 
littles ones draw their nourishment. 

The Whole Structure Contained in the Egg. 

The eggs of birds, from those of the humming-bird, like peas, to 
^he great eggs of the ostrich, which will furnish a dinner for six men. 





THE OVUM ON ARRIVING IN THE 
FALLOPIAN TUBE. 



THE OVUM SLIGHTLY ADVANCED 
IN THE TUBE. 



contain not only the germ, which is very minute, but its supply of 
food — the materials from which its body, bones, feathers, etc., are 
formed during the process of incubation or hatching. The white of 
the egg, almost pure albumen, is not essential to it, but useful as food. 
The eggs of many animals are without it. The yolk, consisting of 
albumen and oil, contains the matter first taken into the organization. 
The germinal spot, a point of matter, is the real germ, and can only 
be seen under the microscope. The eggs of viviparous animals are 
of extreme minuteness. That of a dog is the i-i30th of an inch in 
diameter including yolk, germinal vesicle, and germinal spot. The 
human ovum is still smaller, about i-i40thof an inch in diameter; and 
in the circumference of that small diameter lies, what a v/orld ol 



THE HUMAN OVUM. 133 

character and power — lies all that shall distinguish the highest 
example of human civilization and culture from the lowest savage- 
poet, philosopher, hero, idiot ruffian lunatic — all the possibilities and 
potentialities of humanity. 

Wonders of Generation. 

At a certain period in the life of a plant, in organs prepared for that 
important function, are formed the germs of new plants. The germ 
producing organ, frond or flower, does its work and dies. The tree 
lives on, but each individual bud, producing flower and seed or fruit, 
perishes. This is the law of vegeta- 
tive generation. 

Such is also, to a great extent, the 
law of insect life. The insect pro- 
duces one crop of germs ; the> are 
fertilized by one conjunction of the 
sexes ; the eggs are deposited, some- 
times in immense numbers, where 
they can be hatched in safety, and 
where its proper food can be found 
for the new being in the earliest stage 
of its development; and then, as if 
the whole purpose of life had been """^ °™'' surrounded by cells 
accomplished, the male and female alike perish. In some cases the< 
male insect sacrifices his life in the very act of fecundation. 

In the higher orders of animals, fishes, reptiles, birds and mam 
mals, the production of germs goes on year after year in varying 
periods. The guinea-pig begins to breed at two months old, and the 
higher the type, the later is the period of germ formation, until in 
man the period of puberty or the beginning of the generative func- 
tion is at about fifteen years, varying from twelve to eighteen, but the 
aatural powers are scarcely at their full strength and fitness until 
some years later. 

The power of reproduction as to numbers seems to be in the 




134 



THE HUMAN OVUM. 



inverse ratio as to development. The lowest forms of life multiply 
with amazing rapidity ; some insects produce myriads, fishes spawn 
eggs by millions, hens lay an egg a day for months together, rabbits, 
cats, dogs breed every few months, and have at each birth a numerous 
progeny, while the higher orders of mammalia produce their young 
but once a year, and have but one, or, in rare cases, two at a birth. 

When the human germ has been slowly formed in the ovary, and 
perfected up to the period when it bursts forth in its first birth, fit for 
impregnation, it is nine months in arriving at the development which 
fits it for birth and independent existence. For twelve months more 
it draws its supply of nutriment from the mother, and two years may 
be considered the normal interval from birth to birth. It should never 





OVUM STILL MORE ADVANCED 
IN THE TUBE. 



THE OVUM FROM THE LOWER 
END OF FALLOPIAN TUBE. 



be less with a proper regard to the health of the mother, and the 
proper development of her children, and the practice of shortening 
Jhis period by hiring wet nurses is a violation of nature which is 
avenged on parents and their offspring. 

What the Ovaries are For. 

The mother is exhausted by too frequent child-bearing, and chil- 
drcn are deprived of the love, the magnetism, the life of the mother, 
which comes to them from her blood transformed into the most deli- 
cious food for them, and the nervous and spiritual food which no 
money can buy, and no one but the mother can give. 

The human germ cell or egg is formed from the blood in a gland- 
like or^an. about an inch and a half long, oval shaped, placed in the 



THE HUMAN OVUM. 



135 



lower part of the abdomen in the groin, and on each side of the 
uterus, or womb. In each ovary, from the period of puberty, in a 
healthy female, there is a constant formation and growth of germs, or 
ova, which goes on for thirty or forty years. 

When the first perfect germs have ripened, one or more, they come 
to the surface of the ovary, burst from their sacs, sometimes with 
considerable force, attended by a nervous excitement, a congestion of 
the bloodvessels of ovaries and womb, and when impregnation does 
not take place the freed germ passes into the mouth of the Fallo- 
pian tube, through which it passes into the uterus, from which it 
passes, with the menstrual evacuation, a 
secretion from the mucous surfaces of 
these organs, reddened more or less by 
some exudation from the congested ves- 
sels through the mouth of the womb 
into the vagina. 

Constant Production of Germs. 

This menstrual or monthly flow mark- 
ing the production of germs, and their 
expulsion when not fecundated by the 
presence of the masculine clement goes 
on monthly from its commencement at 
the age of puberty, normally at fourteen to sixteen years of age, to 
the period of the cessation of the menses or "turn of life," from forty- 
five to sixty, when no more germs are formed, and the capacity for 
child-bearing ceases. 

Corresponding to the ovaries or egg-forming organs of the female 
are two similar glandular bodies, called the testes, in the male, which 
produce the spermatic or seminal fluid, corresponding to the pollen of 
plants, by which the germs are fertilised or fecundated ; by means of 
these germ cells and sperm cells the masculine and feminine demerits 
are brought together so that they can unite in the body and soisl, the 
'naterial and spiritual life of a new being. The human testes are 




LAYER OF ALBUMEN IN THE 
LOWER PORTION OF THE 
TUBE (observed ONLY IN 
THE rabbit). 



136 



THE HUMAN OVUM. 



formed within the body near the kidneys, but some time before birth 
they descend, pass out of the abdomen by the inguinal canal, and take 
their place in au external sac prepared for them, called the scrotum. 

These testes or testicles show the importance of their function by 
a wonderfully elaborate organization, of which some idea is given in 
the accompanying figure. The oval body is composed of a vast 
number of lobules, formed of very fine tubes closely folded, and 
eveiywhere in contact with bloodvessels and nerves. There are in 
-"-^ich testicle about four hundred and fifty of these lobules. 

The matter secreted by 
them passes through a vast 
number of tubes, i-i/oth of 
an inch in diameter, ending in 
a convoluted tubular struc- 
ture, measuring twenty-one 
feet in length, ending in a 
single tube, which carries the 
masculine generative matter 
to the urethra, whence, in the 
sexual congress, it is ejected 
into the vagina, enters the 
mouth of the womb, and either 
there or in the Fallopian tubes 
meets ana impregnates the 
germ coming from the ovaries. 
The seminal fluid is as complex and vital a substance as we should 
expect to have formed by so remarkable an apparatus. Floating in a 
liquid are minute cells, in which other cells or corpuscles may be dis- 
covered, and in these are formed bundles of spermatozoa, curiously- 
shaped living . cells, 1-600 to I -800 of a line in length, each one of 
which is furnished with a single cilium or long, slender tail, which 
propels it with a constant vibrative motion, as if it were a living ani- 
mialcule. This spermatozoon is the true agent of fertilization, corres 
ponding to the pollen grain of the flower. It has been discovered in 




GERMS OF THE MALE. 



THE HUMAN OVUM. 



13? 



the womb, iin the Fallopian tubes, and in contact with the germ just 
leaving the ovary. Thus the male and female elements are brought 
together by a natural process. 

Source of Form and Features. 

There can be little doubt that the cells, furnished with long pro- 
pellers, carry in them the male principle which gives to the female 
g-erm all that makes the child resemble its father, all that it inherits 
from him of bodily form, features, complexion, temperament, 
constitution, mental power and moral character — health, 
disease, idioysncrasy, that which may make its hap- 
piness or misery in this life — and who can say 
how much also in the life to come ? 

The germs of human, as of all life, are 
produced in immense numbers. Even in 
childhood imperfect germs are formed 
and discharged, and conception may take 
place before menstruation begins. Idle 
ness, luxury, the use of rich, highly-sea- 
soned food, condiments and stimulants, 
and the excitement of the passions, 
hasten puberty and exaggerate and dis- 
order the corresponding masculine 
function. 

The microscope does not reveal to us 
what takes place in the act of impregna- 
tion or conception, or what change is produced by the contact of 
the spermatozoon with the ovum. The egg of the maiden hen con- 
tains the rudiments of the chick, but it can never be hatched. The 
warmth that brings life and development to the impregnated egg 
only hastens the putrifaction of the unimpregnated. The unimpreg- 
nated eggs of the frog quickly putrify ; but if the male element be 
soon brought to them they expand into living creatures. In this case 
the spermatozoa are absorbed into the ovum. 




ANATOMY OF THE TESTES. 



iS6 



7'HE HUMAN OVUM. 



-Artery 
of Cord 



The blood goes to the testes in long, slender, tortuous arteries 
presenting an extensive surface for the action of nervous energy, and' 
there is no doubt that the best blood of the body is selected to form 
the semen, and that it is changed and perfected, first in these arteries 
and then in the worrierfully fine and convoluted tubes of the testes. 

The same arterk-s that supply blood to the testes in the male^ 
furnish the ciiX/ilation of the ovaries in the female; and the same 
nervous centres furnish the nerve energy and directing intelligence ; 

but what makes the difference in action 
— forming germ cells in one sex and 
sperm cells in the other — or what makes 
sex must probably remain among life's 
inscrutable mysteries. ** Arrest of de- 
velopment" will not account for it, and 
if it did, what causes arrest of develop- 
ment? "Male and female created He 
them." 

Remarkable Changes at Puberty, 

At the age of puberty remarkable 
changes take place in both sexes„ Boys 
and girls differ, indeed, from their ten- 
derest years. As a rule, boys are more 
BODY ^^ TESTIS, SHOWING THE boistcrous, girls morc gentle; while the 

girl chooses a doll for her plaything, the 
bey prefers a drum, a sword, or whip. But at puberty the sexual 
instincts become stronger, and there is in each a more pronounced 
development of masculine or feminine appearances and qualities. 

In the boy the voice deepens in tone, and the face begins to be 
covered with a beard. Where the testes have been removed, 
detroyed or imperfectly developed, the voice remains treble, and the 
beard light or wanting. There is an enlargement of the throat, the 
**Adam*s apple " corresponding to the full development of the mas- 
culine organs. On the other hand, the girl becomes at puberty more 




THE HUMAN OVUM. 13& 

decidedly feminine by the enlargement of the pelvis, the broadening 
of the hips and the development of the mammary or milk-forming 
glands in the bosom. 

There is no beard to mar the delicacy and femmine beauty of the 
face, but in both sexes alike, at this period, hair appears upon the 
pubes. The most striking difference, however, is that already men- 
tioned—the occurrence of the monthly period, marking the ripening 
and expulsion of germs capable of becoming living men and women. 

Woman differs from man in her entire organization — mental emo- 
tional, physical. She is more rounded, graceful, soft, sensitive^ 
mobile. Her nervous system is finer and more delicate ; she has 
quicker sensibilities and finer powers of instinct and intuition. Even 
the bony skeleton of a woman can be dinstinguished 
at a glance from that of a man by its longer head and 
broader pelvis, and generally by its smaller hands and 
feet. 

Richerand has, perhaps, exas^g^erated in saying: that 

* ^ ^ ' ... APPEARANCE OF 

" the reproduction of the species is, in woman, the the seminal 

most important object in life — almost the only destina- granules. 

tion to which nature has called her, and the only duty she has to 

fulfil in human societ}/ ; " but Madame de Stael went nearly as far in 

saying, ** Love is but an episode in the life of man ; it is the whole 

history of the life of woman.'' Lord Byron has said, almost in the 

same words : 

**Love is of man's life a thing apart; 
'Tis woman's whole existence." 

We think, however, that there are women who have brains as well 
as ovaries; and that even the faculties which make women most 
charming as wives and most excellent as mothers, may have a much 
broader scope than the production, care and education of their own 
offspring. Hundreds of women who have never borne children have 
been more than mothers to great multitudes. In the actual condition 
of humanity there may be a higher work for many women in saving 
*Jie children of others, than in having children of iheir own. 




CHAPTER XII. 

Embryology, or Development of the Fcetu^ 

Order of Growth — Vital Point of the Bgg — Ovum Protected by Membranes - 
Resemblance to the Egg of the Fowl — Rapid Changes of the Germ — Sizes oi 
the Ovum at Different Periods — Formation of Bone and Muscle — Growth of 
the Vital Organs — How the Embryo is Nourished — Birth of More, than On« 
Child — Second Conception — Period of Gestation — Pregnancy Table— Numbei- 
of Days to be Reckoned — From What to Date the Count — Mistakes in Reckon- 
ing — The Sex of the Child — Proportion of Boys to Girls. 

^'T'M^E ovum once impregnated, nature carries forward its devel. 
JL opment, as nearly as can be observed, in the following 
order : The ovum is, from the first, enveloped in two mem- 
branes, the outer of w^-^Vh is called the chorion, the inner the amnion. 
vVithin lies th^ principle ot life, the germ of the complex being. The 
ova ol all the higher animals are alike at this period, and one cannot 
be distinguished from another. The amnion or inner membiane 
secretes upon its inner surface the liquid in which the foetus is sus- 
spended during the whole period of gestation. The chorion or outef 
covering, on the other hand, acts outwardly, throwing out villi, whicl\ 
gathered at one point, at a certain period unite with vessels on the 
inner surface of the uterus, and form the placenta or afterbirth, by 
which the foetus is nourished from the blood of the mother. 

The central germinal point of the egg and its two coverings form 
the three parts of a regular cell formation — cell, nucleus and 
nucleolus. 

While the ovum is gradually passing down the Fallopian tube, pro 
polled by the action of its ciliary bodies, a journey which lasts from 
eight to fourteen days, and in the course of which it is liable to 
impregnation, the uterus is preparing for its reception. A delicate 
secretion is poured out over its whole internal surface, which is organ- 
ized into a membrane caJled the decidua, so that when the ovum arrive* 
140 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE FCETUS. 



141 



at the lower end of its Fallopian tube, or, one of the horns of the 
uterus, this decidua bars its entrance. But, as the ovum is pushed 
forward, the membrane gives way, and is folded around the ovum, so 
as to make a double covering. The outer portion is called the decidua 
vera, or true membrane ; the inner, the decidua reflexa, or folded 
membrane. 

We have the ovum now protected by no less than four membranes 
—two proper to itself, the amnion and chorion, and the two formed by 
the folded decidua of the uterus. 




SECTION OF THE LINING MEMBRANE OF A HUMAN UTERUS AT THE 
PERIOD OF COMMENCmr PREGNANCY, 

Showing the arrangement and other peculiarities of the glands d, d, d, with their 
orifices, a, a, a, on the internal surface o( the organ. Twice the natural size. 

During its passage down the Fallopian tube, the entire ovum is so 
small that it is with great difficulty it can be found by the closest 
inspection and the aid of a powerful microscope. When found, 
however, and subjected to a high magnifying power, it exhibits the 
3ame phenomena as it displayed in the incubation of ^^m.^ 
any other ^%^. There is the yolk, the germinal spot, ^il-^-'4 
which gradually expands, and the formation, first of blood, '•^ 

and an external circulation, and then of the rudimental ovum 14 da\. 
organs ; but these changes take place in the uterus. ^^^• 

The human ovum, at its impregnation, is very small — smaller than 
che naked eye can distinguish. It is from the i- 120th to the i- 140th 
of an inch in diameter. But from the moment of fecundation it 
grows with great energy. The foetus of one month is an inch long ; 
two months, two inches and a half long ; three months, five inches \ 



142 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE FCETUS. 




five months, six or seven inches ; seven months, eleven inches ; 
eight months, fourteen inches ; nine months, eighteen inches. 

The interior structure of the ovum, 
and the gradual development of the 
germ, embryo and foetus, are best 
explained and illustrated by reference 
to the larger eggs of fishes and birds 
The hen's egg may be taken as a 
model, and when a hen is setting, 
or, more humanely, when eggs are 
being hatched by artificial heat, if 
one be broken every second or third 
day, the whole development may be 
watched with great facility. Nature, 
it will be seen, has prepared every- 
thing, forgotten nothing, and goes on 
in the formation of a new being, insect, 
bird or man, with the same wisdom 
and power that create a universe and 
endow it with life and motion. 
The first step in development in the yolk of the egg must be the 
vitalization of its matter — further vitalization, 
we should say, for it is already alive — an organ- 
ized existence. But the entrance of the mas- 
culine element, or its union with the ferrinine 
element, whatever they may be, gives a new 
and very intense life. There is a diffusion, 
perhaps a rapid spreading growth of fibres of 
the nerves of organic life. Under their influ- 
ence cells are formed of matter already fitted 
for such structures. 

These cells undergo rapid transformations and become the bloody 
muscle, bone, all the tissues of the young animal. In the egg, these 
cells are seen to become more opaque in some parts, more trans- 



THE UTERUS WHEN THE OVUM IS 
ENTERING ITS CAVITY. 

0\nmi, y] surrounded by its cho- 
rion^, a. Cervix, d, b. Fallopian 
tubes, c. Decidua vera. d. Cavity 
of the uterus, e. Decidua reflexa. 




OVUM AND EMBRYO FIF- 
TEEN DAYS OLD. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE FCETUS. 14S 

parent in others ; they divide and subdivide until the yolk forms what 
is called a mulberry mass. A germ gathers upon the surface and 
separates into three layers. In the eggs of fishes, which are so 
transparent as to be easily watched through the process of develop- 
ment, may be seen an upper or nervous layer, in which are formed 
the organs of animal life — bones, muscles, brain and nerves, etc. 





OVUM AND EMBRYO TWENTY-ONE DAYS OLD. 

The lower layer gives origin to the organs of vegetative life — the 
abdominal viscera, intestines, or alimentary system ; the intermediate 
layer produces the heart, arteries, veins, etCo, of the system of 
circulation. 

At a very early period, the general form of the insect or animal is 
manifested. In insects and crustaceans, the germ is divided into 
sections. In the germs of vertebrate animals, there are seen the rudi- 
ments of a spinal canal which, when formed, is filled with a fluid, 
from which is formed the brain and spinal cord. The embryo rests 
upon the yolk and covers it like a cap, vertebrates enclosing it by the 
edges uniting at the navel. 

In fishes, whose embryonic development has been carefully observed 
by Professor Agassiz, the first lines of the embryo appear on the tenth 
day — a canal, which becomes a tube— the spine, and an enlargement 
at one end, the rudimentary head, in which may soon be seen a 



t44 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE FCETUS. 



division ot the brain for the organs of sight, hearing and smell ; and 
soon after the rudiments of eye and ear are apparent. About the 
seventeenth day the heart is seen as a simple cavity, and, as soon as 
it is closed, there are regular contractions and a movement of blood 
corpuscles. 

On the thirtieth day there is a regular circulation of blood ; the tail 
gets free, and moves in violent jerks, and the head is soon liberated. 

The fish has a brain, an intestine, a 
pulsating heart, and a limited amount 
of spontaneous motion ; but its form 
is not clearly defined. By the fortieth 
day, the shape of the fish is evident, 
the remains of the yolk hang in a bag 
to its belly, but it soon becomes ab- 




sorbed, and then the fish is obliged to 
seek its own food, having exhausted 
its embryonic provision. 

The condition of the fish about the 
thirtieth day is shown in the embryo 
of the fowl as early as the eighth day. 
The head forms more than half the 
animal, and the eye is out of all pro- 
portion to the head. The yolk is 
being absorbed through a membrane 
and vessels, which unite to form the 
umbilicus, the yolk of the egg being 
to the embryo chicken what the placenta and blood of the mother 
are to the human foetus. 

In the uterus, the growtn of the new being is rapid. Still, in the 
human subject, up to the seventh day, nothing is visible to the naked 
eye. On the tenth day, there may be perceived a semi-transparent, 
grayish flake. On the twelfth there is a vesicle, nearly of the size of 
a pea, filled with fluid, in the middle of which swims an opaque spot, 
presenting the first appearance of an embryo, which may be clearly 



DIAGRAM REPRESENTING A HUMAN 
OVUM IN THE SECOND MONTH. 

a, I. Smooth portion of chorion, a, 
2. Villous portion of chorion, /i, k. 
Elongated villi beginning to collect 
into placenta, b. Yolk sac, or um- 
bilical vesicle, c. Embryo, f. Am- 
aion (inner layer). ^. Allantois. h. 
Outer layer of amnion, coalescing 
with chorion. 



DEV^ELOPMENT OF THE FCETUS. 



145 




OVUM OF FIVE WEEKS. 



seen as an oblong or curved body, according as it is viewed, and 

plainly visible to the naked eye on the fourteenth day. The entire 

iveight of the embryo and its two investing 

membranes, waters, etc., is now about one 

grain. 

The increase from the first is astonishingly ^, 

rapid, when we consider its original minuteness. %^ 

On the twenty-first day the embryo resembles 

an ant, or a lettuce seed ; its length is four or 

live lines, and it weighs three or four grains. 

Many of its parts now begin to show themselves, especially the car 

tilaginous beginnings of the bones of the spinal column, the heart, 

brain, etc. 

On the thirteenth day the embryo is as large as a horse-fly, and 

resembles a worm bent together. There are as yet no limbs, and 

the head is larger than the rest of the body. When stretched out, 

the embryo is nearly half an inch long. 

In the seventh week bone begins to form in the lower jaw and 

clavicle. Narrow streaks on each side of the vertebral column show 

the beginning of the ribs ; the heart is perfecting its form ; the brain 

enlarged, and the eye and ear growing more perfect, and the limbs 

sprouting from the body. 

The lungs are mere sacs, about one 
line in length, and the trachea is a 
delicate thread, but the liver is very 
large. The anus is still imperforate. 
In the seventh week are formed the 
renal capsules and kidneys, and the 
sexual organs are speedily evolved, but 
the sex of the foetus is not determined 
until some time after. The embryo is 

now nine lines, or three-fourths of an inch, in length. 

In the eighth week the embryo is an inch long, weighs a drachm, 

and begins to show the division of finders and toes. 
10 




OVUM OF SEVEN WEEKS. 



146 



DEVELOPMENT OE THE ECETUS. 



At from sixty to seventy days, the development is rapid, and all the 
parts are in the course of progressive formation. The eyes enlarge, 

the lids are visible, the nose 
grows prominent, the mouth 
enlarges, the external ear is 
I formed, the brain is soft and 
pulpy, the neck well defined 
and the heart fully developed. 

At three months, the eye- 
lids are distinct, but shut, 
the lips are drawn together, 
the organs of generation very 
prominent in both sexes, both 
penis and clitoris being re- 
markably elongated. The 
heart beats with force, the 
larger vessels carry red blood, 
the fingers and toes are well 
defined, muscles begin to be 
developed, and the fcetus is 
four or five inches in length 
and weighs about tv^o and a 
half ounces. 

At four months, it has 
greatly expanded in all its 
SECTION OF THE UTERUS WITH THE OVUM ^^^^ ^^^ abdominal mus^ 

SOMEWHAT ADVANCE©. , . i , t • 

, ^. , ^ -ui 1 • cles are formed, and the m- 

a. Muco-gelatinous substance, blocking up os ' 

uteri, d, b. Fallopian tubes, c, c. Decidua vera testines are no longer visible, 
prolonged, at <: 2, into Fallopian tube. flf. Cavity \<. a. fb fV. 1 
ofuterus, almost completely occupied by ovum. ^^ "^^ montns, tne lungS 
e, e. Angles at which decidua vera is reflected. J^^yg increased, and are even 
/. Decidua serotina. g. Allaniois. h. Umbili- 
cal vesicle. /.Amnion. >^. Chorion, lined with susceptible of a slight dilata- 
outer fold of serous tunic. ^^^^ ^j^^ ^^^^ -^ ^^^ j^ 

process of formation, the place of the nails is marked, and meconium 
gathers in the intestines, showing the action of excretory glands. 




DEVELOPMENT OF THE FCETUS. 



147 



Length, eight or ten inches ; weight, fourteen or sixteen ounces. The 
growth goes on steadily. 

At six months, a little down appears upon the head, the areolar 
lissue is abundant, and fat begins to be deposited. Length, nine to 
twelve inches ; weight, one pound. 

At sev^en months, every part has increased in volume and perfec- 
tion ; the bony system is nearly complete. Length, twelve to fourteen 
inches ; weight, two and a half to three pounds. This is reckoned at 
the epoch of viability, or the period in which the foetus, if expelled 
from the uterus, is capable of independent existence. 

From this period up to nine months, 
there is a mere increase of size and 
action. The red blood circulates in the 
capillaries, and the skin performs the 
function of perspiration. Length, eigh- 
teen to twenty-two inches ; weight, from 
five to eight pounds. There are cases 
in which an ill-nutured foetus, at its full 
period, does not weigh more than two or 
three pounds ; on the other hand, cases 
are not rare in which the weight is twelve 
or fifteen pounds. 

During the first weeks of the evolu- 
tion of the embryo in the uterus, it is 
nourished, as the young chicken is, by the yolk of the egg. But 
soon the villi of the chorion gather into a compact mass, and become 
adherent to some portion of the uterus. There is formed thus a pla- 
centa, made of two portions, the maternal side, toward the walls of 
the uterus, and the foetal, in which the vessels unite into two arteries 
and one vein, which, with their envelopments, form the umbilical cord, 
and communicate with the foetal heart. By this means, at every pul- 
sation of the heart, blood is sent through the two umbilical arteries to 
the placenta. Here the vessels branch out into capillaries, which mingle 
with those of the maternal placenta, communicating with the uterus. 




OVUM OF EIGHT WEEKS. 



148 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE FCETUS. 



Through the membranous coats of these vessels the blood of the 
foetus is nourished and purified. It receives nutritious matter and 
oxygen ; it gives out carbonic acid. The placenta answers for the 
foetus, then, the double purpose of stomach and lungs. The foetus 
has its own individual circulation and life, but all its nutriment, from 




OVUM OF FIVE MONTHS. 



the time this connection is formed until it is severed at birth, comes 
from the mother. 

The regular period of pregnancy in the human female ends with 
the tenth lunar month or fortieth week. Physiologists have asked 
why the process necessary to expulsion should be set up at this period. 
When they have given an intelligible explanation of any vital period- 




MALE AND FElMALf FORIMS CONTRASTED. 



Illustration from Dr, Monfort B 
Allen's The Ladies* Guide to 
Health and Beauty , 1905. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE FCETUS. 149 

icity whatever, they may of this. Time is one of the elements of the 
universe, whether marked by the beatings of the heart and the move- 
ments of respiration or the cycles of the stars, which require millions 
of millions of years for their completion. 

Regularities of action and consequent accuracy of periods are 
inherent qualities of the intelligent soul and organic life. It is the 
organic life that presides over the development of the foetus, and 
fixes the time for its expulsion. But this organic principle is not a 
machine. It has the power, for good reasons, to bring on the process 
of labor earlier, or postpone it to a later period. 

Time Required for Gestation. 

The normal period of pregnancy is forty weeks or nine months, 
reckoning from the last menstrual period. But, as some persons have 
a quicker pulse than others, so in some the vital processes may be 
more rapid. There are also diseased irregularities which vary the 
time. Even domestic animals vary weeks in their periods. A gesta- 
tion, even in a tolerably healthy woman, may be prolonged two of 
three weeks, and, in disease, still further. On the other hand, it ma^ 
come on prematurely. 

There have been cases where a foetus of six months has been bom 
and lived, but seven months is generally considered the period of via- 
bility. At this time, even where miscarriages are artificially produced, 
it is said that two children out of three live. A reasonable man may 
be satisfied of the legitimacy of his child, if he has not been absent 
from its mother more than seven months at the period of its birth ; and 
if he can count eight months from, his first connection to the birth of 
a full-grown infant, he has no reason to be dissatisfied. Seven months 
children are said to occur oftenest in a first pregnancyc 

There is no probability, we might say, possibility, that when the 
uterus is occupied by one foetus, and all avenues to the ovaries are 
blocked up, another later conception can take place. But there is no 
reason why a woman may not have twins by two fathers, who have 
connection with her at nearly the same time ; and there are several 



150 DEVELOPMENT OF THE FOETUS. 

cases in which twins have been born, one white and the other mulatto, 
or mulatto and black, in which the mother avowed that such a state 
of tacts existed. In the same way a litter of pups may be sired by 
several males, each pup bearing a resemblance to its particular father. 

Cases of Twins or More. 

This brings up the oft-agitated question, whether, after an ovule 
has been impregnated and passed down into the cavity of the uterus, 
mother ovule may not be fecundated ; so that the products of two 
:onceptions may undergo their respective developments in the uterus, 
md be delivered at an interval corresponding to that between the con- 
srR5J^^t^^^^s>^ . ceptions. Many physiologists have 

/i^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ believed this to be possible, and have 
AVfei&'^i^^^^^^^^^^fe. given it the name oi superfoetation. The 

case, cited from Sir Everard Home, 
of a young female, who died on the 
seventh or eighth day after conception, 
exhibits that the mouth of the womb 
is at an early period completely ob- 
structed by a plug of impervious 
mucus, and that the inner surface of 
OVUM, SHOWING FORMATION OF the utcrus is lined by an efflorescence 
AFTERBIRTH. of plastic matter, the nature of which 

ts well known to the student of physiology. 

When such a change has been effected, it would seem to be impos- 
sible for the male sperm to reach the ovary; and, accordingly, th? 
general belief is, that superfoetation is only practicable prior to these 
changes, and where there is a second vesicle ripe for impregnation. 
Of this kind of superconception or superfecundation it is probable 
that twin and triplet cases are often, if not always, examples; one 
ovule being impregnated at one copulation, and another at the next. 
It may happen, too, that although two ova may be fecundated, both 
embryos may not undergo equal development. One, indeed, may be 
arrested *it an early stage, although still retaining the vital force, I« 




DEVELOPMENT OF THE FOETUS. 151 

such a case, the other will generally be found larger than common. 
A case of the kind occurred in the practice of Professor Hall, of the 
University of Maryland, and many such are on record. On the 4th 
of October, 1835, a lady was delivered of a female foetus, two inches 
and ten lines in length. This occurred about half-past eight in the 
morning, and at two o'clock on the following morning she was deliv" 
ered of a second ch'ld. v^^b^'ch Vv^eighed nine and one-half pounds. 

Period of Gestation—" The Count." 

The foetus, when first extruded, gave no evidences of decay, and in 
color and general character resembled the foetus of an ordinary abor- 
tion. Still, there are many cases recorded - in _.which the interval 
between the births of the children has been from- one hundred and 
ten to one hundred and seventy days, and neither of the children war 
in appearance premature, so that the possibility of a second concep- 
tion, when the uterus already contains an ovum some months old, can 
scarcely, perhaps, be denied, however improbable it may seem ; and, 
indeed, if the facts be admitted, the deduction seems to be irresistible. 

The period of gestation is usually two hundred and eighty days — > 
Torty weeks — ten lunar or nine calendar months. It will be well for a 
,ady, in making her "count," to commence her "reckoning" about 
three days after the last day of her being " unwell." The reason we 
fix on a v/oman conceiving a few days after she has " ceased to 
be unwell " is that she is more apt to conceive soon after men- 
struation than at any other time. 

A Pregnancy Table. 

A good plan to make the "reckoning" is as follows : Let forty 
weeks and a few days from the time specified above, be marked on an 
almanac, and a lady will seldom be far from her calculation. Sup- 
pose, for instance, the last day of her " ceasing to be unwell " was on 
January 1 5th, she may expect to be confined on or about October 25th. 

The loJIowlng table, showing the probable commencement, dur- 
ation and completion of pregnancy, and indicating the date on of 



l.*:>2 



DEVKLOrMENl OF THE FCETQS. 



about which which day the labor might occur, will, we tru^^i, be iound 
very useful. This table allows three days over the 280 days — makirg 
283 days ; that is to say, *' the count " of 280 days days commences 
three days after the last day of a lady being " unwell." The reason we 
have chosen three days after the last day of menstruation is, a lady is 
more likely to conceive a few days — say three days — after the lasl 
day of her ''periods" than at any other time. The reckoning, then, 
in this table is made to begin from the last day of " her periods "— 
three days being allowed over for conception— thus making 283 days 
from the last day of ** the periods " until the completion of the preg- 
nancy on or about which day — the 283d day — the labor is likely to 



Last 


Day of 


Labor 


Last 


Day oj 


Lxibor 


"the Per tods V 


On or About 


" the Periods^ 


On or About 


Tan 


1 


.... Oct 


11 
12 
13 
14 


Jan. 

(C 


27 . . , 


. Nov 


6 


<( 


2 




28 .. . , . . 
29 


<l 




«< 


3 




8 


t( 


4 




30 


<4 


9 


c« 


5 




15 


<< 


31 


«< 


10 


<( 


6 




16 


Feb. 


1 


(( 


11 


•t 


7 

8 




17 
18 
19 

20 




2 . . 


<< 


I'? 


<« 


3 . . , . 


t* 


13 


«« 


9 




4 

5 


n 


14 


«< 


10 




11 


«« 


11 

12 

13 




21 
22 
23 




6 


<i 


1^ 


*t 


7. . . . . 


«t 


17 


%t 


8. . , _ 


n 


18 


»• 


14 




24 


(( 


9. c . . . 


(( 


U 


(I 


15 

16 




25 

26 




10 


'< 


9» 


«' 


11 .... . 


o( 


21 


{. 


17 




27 


(C 


12. . . . 


(1 


22 


u 


18 

19 




28 
29 


<( 


13 


<( 


^3 


M 


1^ 


(( 


24 


II 


20 




30 
31 

1 


(C 

<< 

<( 


15 

16 

17 


(( 
** 


•^^ 


jt 


21 




?ft 


• • 


22 


. . . Nov. 


27 


(( 


23 , . . . . 




2 
3 
4 
5 


i< 
(i 


18. . . . 

19 

20 

%l 


<< 

«« 

. . , - Dec. 


28 


«( 


24 




'^c^ 


i- 


25 




^0 


>C 


26 




J 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE FCETUS. 



15,1 



Casi Day oj 
"^ the Periods.'' 

Feb. 22 . 

" 23 . 

" 24 . 

•« 25 . 

•« 26 . 



Mar. 



April 



28 
1 
2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 
10 
11 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 
17 
18 
19 
20 
21 
22 
23 
24. 
25 
26 
27 
28 
29 
30 
31 

1 

2 

3 

4 



Labor 


On or About 


Dec 


2 


(( 


3 


<( 


4 


(( 


5 


<( 


6 


n 


7 


l< 


8 


" 


9 


i( 


10 


'« 


11 


(i 


12 


" 


13 


i( 


14 


(( 


15 


" 


16 


(( 


17 


<( 


18 


i( 


19 


(( 


20 


(( 


21 


" 


22 


(( 


23 



Jan. 



24 

25 

26 

27 

28 

29 

30 

31 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 



9 
10 
11 
12 



Last Day of Labor 
''the Periods. ' ' On or A bou J 

April 5 Jan. 1\ 

6 " li 

7 *' If) 

8 ♦' 10 

9 '« 17 

10 *' U 

11 "19 

12 "20 

13. . "21 

14 "22 

15 , "23 

16 "24 

17 „ , "25 

18. . . "26 

19 . . . c , . . . . "27 

20 "28 

21 "29 

22 "30 

23 "31 

24 Feb. 1 

25 " 2 

26 " 3 

27 " 4 

28 " 5 

29 " 6 

30 " 7 

May 1 ''■ 8 

2 " 9 

3 "10 

4 . " 11 

5 "12 

6 "13 

7 " U 

8 "15 

9 •* 16 

10 "17 

11 "18 

12 "IS 

13 •• 2v 

14 "21 

15 "22 

16 "23 



154 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE FCETaS. 



La -it Day of La bo r 

' the Periods.''^ Ok or A bout 

May 17 Feb. 24 

18 "25 

19 "26 

20 "27 

21 •♦28 

22 Mar. 1 

23 *• 2 

24 *• 3 

25 «• 4 

26 •' 5 

'' Ti . , . '• 6 

28 '• 7 

*' 29 " 8 

30 * 9 

31 "10 

June 1 " 11 

2 "12 

3 "13 

" 4 "14 

5. , "15 

" 6 . "16 

7 "17 

" 8. . . "18 

9 "19 

10 "20 

11. "2] 

*• 12 "22 

*■ 13 " 23 

*' 14 "24 

15 "25 

*' 16 "26 

17 "27 

" 18 "28 

" 19 "29 

20 "30 

21 "31 

22 April 1 

23 '« 2 

24 « 3 

2.5 «« 4 

26 " 5 

'* 27 ♦« 6 



Last Day oj Labor 
' ' the Periods.'* On or A boui 

June 28 April 7 

29 " 8 

30 " 9 

July 1 " 10 

2 , « n 

" 3 " :2 

4 . . . "13 

5 " l-it 

6 "15 

7 "16 

8. . "17 

9 "18 

10 "19 

11 "20 

" 12 " 21 

13 "22 

«' 14 " 2S 

15 "24 

16 "25 

17 "26 

18 "27 

19 « 21 

" 20 "29 

21 "80 

22 lay 1 

'< 23 " 2 

24 ........ . " 3 

25 *• 4 

26 " 5 

27 " 6 

28 '* 7 

29 ** 8 ^ 

30 . e . " 9 ' 

" 31 "10 

Aug. 1 *' 11 

2 "1? 

3 '13 

«^ 4, "14 

" 5 "1-5 

" 6 •* 16 

*« 7 "17 

'« 3 "18 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE FCETUS. 



155 



Last Day of 
" the Periods:' 


Lab 

On or A 

.... Ma^ 


or 

bout 

y 19 

20 

21 

22 


•« 


10 . . . 


ii 


IC 


11 . . 


11 


u 


12 


it 


(( 


13 . . . . 


« 


23 

24 
25 

26 
27 
28 
29 
30 
31 


<t 


14 


i( 


M 


15 . . . . 


II 


<t( 


16 


II 


4( 


17 . . . 


i« 


II 


18 . . . . 


II 


S( 


1& . . . 


II 


(( 


20 


II 


:< 


21 


K 


« 


22 

23 


.... June 
II 


^ 1 

2 - 
3 


C( 


24 


II 


(( 


25 


. 1 


4 


(C 


26 


i( 


5 


<< 
cc 


27 

28 .... 


II 

11 


6 
I 

8 


cc 


29 


i< 


(( 


30 


II 


9 


l( 


31 .... . 


It 


10 


SeDt. 


] . . . . 


i< 


11 
12 




2 


.... 


St 


3 


i( 


13 
14 
15 


<( 


4 


II 


«: 


5 


. . . . 


(< 


6 


11 


16 

17 

18 


(C 


>i 


(C 


>« 


8 


II 


«( 


9 .... . 


«( 


19 


« 


10 . . . 


l( 


20 
21 
22 


(C 


11 ... . 


<l 


<( 


12 


. . . ■ 


l( 


13 


{( 


23 


:( 


14 


II 


24 


<« 


15 


II 


25 


It 


16 


11 


26 


tl 


17 .... . 


II 


27 


• 1 


18 


II 


28 


<M 


19 


<c 


29 



Last Day of Labor 
' ' the Periods.''* On or A bout 

Sept. 20 ..... o ., . June 30 

21 ........ . July 1 

♦« 22 . . , " 2 

*' 23 *♦ 3 

«« 24 " 4 

25 « 5 

26 ... c " 6 

27 « 7 

28 '» 8 

29. ....... . '« 9 

30 « 10 

Oct. 1 " 11 

2 « 12 

3 ^'13 

4 *' r 

5 « IL 

'' 6 "16 

7 "17 

" 8 «' IS 



II 


10 


<{ 


11 


11 


12 


11 


13 


II 


14 


«l 


15 


II 


16 


II 


17 


(1 


18 


II 


19 


II 


20 


II 


21 


II 


22 


II 


23 


l( 


24 


II 


25 


II 


26 


It 


27 


(( 


28 


II 


29 


tt 


30 


<c 


31 



II 


19 


c 


20 


" 


21 


" 


2£ 


II 


23 


1* 


24 


II 


25 


II 


26 


II 


27 


II 


28 


11 


29 


IC 


30 


11 


31 


Aug. 
»l 


1 
2 


II 


3 


II 


4 


11 


5 


l( 


6 


II 


7 


ti 


8 


II 


9 


M 


10 



156 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE FCETUS. 



iMst Day of 
e Periods:^ 



Nov. 



1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 
10 
11 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 
17 
18 
19 
20 
21 
22 
23 
24 
25 
26 
27, 



Dec. 



29 . 

30. 

1 . 



Lalor 
On or About 

. Aug. 11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

17 

18 

29 

20 

21 

22 

23 

'zi 

25 

26 

27 

28 

29 

30 

31 

Sept. 1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 



Last Day of 
'' the Periods:* 

Dec. 2 . . . . 

^ 

4 


Labot 

Cnor A boui 

.... Sept. 11 

.... "12 

.... *' 1.^ 




5 


(( 


14 




6 


(( 


15 




7 


(( 


16 




8 


«« 


17 




9 


(( 


18 




10 


t( 


19 




11 .... . 


it 


20 




12 .... ,. 


(( 


21 




13 


n 


22 




14 


(t 


23 




15 


«< 


24 




16 


(( 


^5 




17 . . 


<( 


?6 




18 


<( 


27 




19 


.... 


28 




20 


<( 


?P 




21 . . . . 


<( 


.•^0 




22 


.... Oct. 


1 




23. ... . 


{( 


2 




24 


(( 


3 




25 


(( 


4 




26 


<< 


5 




27 . . . .- . 


«« 


6 




28 .... . 


.t 


7 




29 


t« 


8 




29 


n 


8 




30 


<( 


9 




31 


«« 


10 



Most Reliable Calculations. 

We may, in passing, just point out the great importance of a wife 
making, every time, a note of the last day of her " periods ; " by doing 
so it might save her a great deal of inconvenience, uncertainty and 
anxiety. It may be well to bear in mind, that if the labor take place 
much earlier than the Pregnancy Table indicates, the chances are that 
the child will be a girl ; but if much later, a boy. 

This Pregnancy Table may, as a rule, be safely relied on, yet it 




A FCETUS OF FIVE MONTHS AGE WITH THE SURROUNDING 
MEMBRANE. 

3. A portion of deciduous membrane, b, b. The placenta (afterbirth). 
c. The chorion, d. The amnion with the foetus within it. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE FCETUS. 157 

is utterly impossible to fix upon the exact day — the approximate day 
can only be specified — some few ladies being at their fiall time as early 
as the 37th week; while others, although but very rarely, are not at 
their full time until the 45th week; hence the uncertainty in some 
cases of such calculations. 

Although the majority of women go 280 days, many reach only 
275 \ ou^ Lord Jesus Christ, as recorded in the New Testament, was 
carried in the womb of His mother for a space of 275 days only — 
-'counting from the Festival of the Annunciation, in the month of 
March, to the day of the blessed Nativity, which we celebrate ir 
December making a period of 275." 

Remarkable Case of Short Gestation. 

Although it be possible for a woman to carry her babe foicy-five 
weeks — i\^cX is to say, five weeks past the allotted time of forty weeks 
. — it is also possible for a lady to carry her child only twenty-eight 
weeks, and yet to have a living infant, and an infant to live. A prac- 
titioner relates a case similar to the one recorded by Shakespeare, 
where the child was born alive " full fourteen weeks before the course 
of time," where the child was carried in the mother's womb only 
twenty-six weeks. The child in question lived for six weeks, and 
then died. It might be asked, why quote Shakespeare on such a 
subject? We reply, Shakespeare was a true philosopher and a 
shrewd observer of nature and of nature's laws. Shakespeare's 
statement runs thus : — 

** He came into the world 
Full fourteen weeks before the course of time." 

A lady, sometimes, by becoming pregnant whilst she is suckling, is 
put out of her reckoning ; not being unwell at such a time, she con- 
sequently does not know how to " counc," She ought, in a case of 
this kind, to reckon from the time that she quickens. That is to say, 
she must, then, consider herself nearly half-gone in her pregnancy, and 
to be within a fortnight of half her time ; or, to speak more accur- 
ately, as soon as she has quickened, we have reason to believe that 



158 DEVELOPMENT OF THE FCETUS. 

she has gone aboiit one hundred and twenty-four days ; she has, 
therefore, about one hundred and fifty-six more days to complete the 
period of her pregnancy . 

Suppose, for instance, that she first quickened on May the 17th, 
she may expect to be confined somewhere near October the 23d. She 
must bear in mind, however, that she can never make so correct a 
'* count " from quickening (quickening taking place at such various 
periods) as from the last day of her *' periods." 

A lady is occasionally thrown out of her reckoning by the appear- 
ance, the first month after she is enceinte^ of a little " show." This 
discharge does not come from the womb, as that organ is hermetically 
sealed ; but from the upper part of the vagina — -the passage to the 
womb-^-and from the mouth of the womb, and may be known from 
the regular menstrual fluid by its being much smaller in quantity, by 
its clotting and by its lasting generally but a few hours. This dis^ 
charge, therefore, ought not to be reckoned in the "■ count," but the 
** period " before must be the guide, and the plan should be adopted 
as previously recommended. 

* Is It a Boy or a Girl?" 

It has frequently been asked : ** Can a medical man tell, before the 
child is born, whether it will be a boy or a girl?" Dr. F. J. W. 
Packman answers in the aflirmative. "■ Queen bees lay female eggs 
first, and male eggs afterwards. In the human female, conception in 
the first half of the time between menstrual periods produces female 
offspring, and male in the latter. When a female has gone beyond 
the time she calculated upon, it will generally turn out to be a boy." 
It was well to say generally, as the above remarks, as we have had 
cases to prove, are not invariably to be depended upon. We believe; 
notwithstanding^, that there is a good deal of truth in Mr. Packman^s 
statement. 

Some wiseacres of nurses profess themselves to be very clever in 
foretelling, some months before the babe is born, whether it will be a 
boy or girl. They base their prognostications on some such grounds 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE FOETUS. 



159 



as these, namely, on the way a lady carries her child, whether she 
carry her burden high or low, whether she be large or small, whether 
she be larger on the right side than on the left side of the abdom.enj 
or vice versa, whether she be pale and sickly countenanced or of a 
good color and healthy-looking, whether she have been troubled muck 
with heartburn, whether she be having a sick pregnancy, and during 
the childbirth whether she be having a back or a belly labor, whether 
it be likely to be a quick or tedious confinement. 

Now, we need scarcely say that all these prognostications are utter 
guesswork — the coinage of a distempered brain ; but, as the number 
of boys and of girls born are pretty equal, they are as likely to be 
right as wrong. If they should happen to be right, they do not for- 
get to tell you of it, but if wrong, they allow their prognostications 
to die in oblivion. If a little more common sense were, at these times, 
obsei*ved, patients would not be likely to be gulled by such folly, nor 
to be carried away by "old wives' cunningly-devised fables."" 

Proportion of the Sexes. 

There are, as a rule, more boys than girls born — that is to say, for 
every lOO girls there are 105 boys. It is a curious fact (proving how 
definite the laws of nature are) how closely the different censuses 
proclaim and verify this statement from the London Times : " For gen- 
erations together it had been debated whether the births of boys or 
girls were the more numerous, and the dispute, conducted on meta- 
physical or physiological probabilities, seemed as if it would never 
have an end. By the statistics of one census after another we have 
learned the proportions exactly, and the result is remarkable, as 
answering closely to the exigencies of life. The proportion of boys 
to girls is 105 to 100, but the greater dangers to which the male sex 
is exposed increase its share of mortality, so that as the years of any 
particular generation go on the numbers are first equalized, and in the 
end turned the other way. More men than women, in short, are 
required, and more boys are born than girls." 



CHAPTER XIIL 
Parturition, or Labor. 

i^'kst Symptoms of Labor — "Grinding Pains" — Shivering Sensations — Stomacb 
Sickness — Bearing Down and Cramps — Labor a Natural Process — Forced 
Assistance Dangerous — Use of Instruments — Average Time of Labor— The 
After-Pains — Three Stages of Labor — Directions to Nurses — Position of the*" 
Patient — Costiveness — Use of Chloroform — What If the Doctor Is Absent ?-^ 
Stillbirths, and How to Treat Them— The Afterbirth— Clothing After Labor- 
Rest and Refreshment — Bandaging — The Sick Room — Attention to the 
Bladder — Treatment for the Bowels — Ignorant Nurses — Quietude and Employ- 
ment. 

AS the first labor is generally t?ie most tedious mid the most 
severe of any, it behooves a newly-married woman to 
'* hearken unto counsel," and thus to prepare for the coming 
event. Strict observance of the advice contained in these pages will 
often make a first labor as easy and as expeditious as an after-labor. 
But observance of the counsel herein contained must be adopted, not 
only during pregnancy, but Hkewise during the whole period— from 
the very commencement — -of wifehood. 

A day or two before the labor commences the patient usually feels 
better than she has done for a long time ; she is light and comfortable ; 
she is smaller, and the child is lower down ; she is more cheerful, 
breathes more freely, and is more inclined to take exercise, and to 
attend to her household duties ; she has often an inclination to tidy 
her drawers, and to look up and have in readiness her own linen and 
the baby's clothes, and the other requisites for the long-expected 
event ; she seems to have a presentiment that labor is approaching, 
and she has the feeling that now is the right time to get everything in 
readiness, as, m a short time, she will be powerless to exert herself 

Although the majority of patients, a day or two before the labor 
comes on, are more bright and cheerful, some few are more anxious, 
fanciful, fidgety and restless. 
160 



PARTURiriON, OK. LAJJUR. 161 

A few days, sometimes a few hours, before labor commences, the 
hild " falls," as it is called ; that is to say, there is a subsidence — a 
dropping — of the womb lower down the belly. These are the rea- 
sons why she feels lighter and more comfortable, ana .;iore inclined 
to take exercise, and why she can breathe more freely. The only 
inconvenience of the dropping of the womb is, that the womb presses 
more on the bladder, and sometimes causes an irritability of that 
organ, inducing a frequent desire to make water. 

One of the Earliest Symptom? 

The subsidence — the dropping — of the womb may, then, be con- 
sidered one of the earliest of the precursory symptoms of childbirth, 
and as the herald of the coming event. She has, at this time, an 
increased moisture of the passage (leading to the womb) and of the 
external parts. She has, at length, slight pains, and then she has 
a " show," as it is called, which is the coming away of a mucous 
plug, which, during pregnancy, had hermetically sealed up the mouth 
of the womb. The *' show " is generally tinged with a little blood. 
When a " show " takes place she may rest assured that labor has 
actually commenced. One of the early symotoms of labor is a fre- 
quent desire to relieve the bladder. 

She has now *' grinding pains," coming An at uncertain periods ; 
sometimes once during two hours, at other times every hour or 
half hour. These ''grinding pains" ought not to be interfered 
with ; at this stage, therefore, it is useless to send for a doctor, yet the 
monthly nurse should be in the house, to make preparations for the 
coming event. Although at this early period it is not necessary to 
send for the medical man, nevertheless, it is well to let him know that 
his services might shortly be required, in order that he might be in 
readiness, or that he might leave word where he might quickly be 
found. 

Pains Becoming Regular. 

These " grinding pains " gradually assume more regularity in their 
• haracter, return at shorter intervals, and become more severe. About 
11 



162 PARTURITION, OR LABOR. 

this time, shivering, in the majority of cases, is apt to occur, so as to 
make the teeth chatter again. Shivering during labor is not an 
unfavorable symptom ; it proves, indeed, that the patient is in real 
earnest, and that she is making progress. 

She ought not, on any account, unless it be ordered by the medical 
man, to take brandy as a remedy for the shivering. A cup either of 
hot tea or of hot gruel will be the best remed}^ for the shivering ; and 
m extra blanket or two should be thrown over her, which ought to 
be well tucked around her, in order to thoroughly exclude the air 
from the body. The' extra clothing shouLl, as soon as she is warm 
and perspiring, be gradually removed, as s:.e ought not to be kept 
very hot, or it will weaken her, and will thus retard her labor. 

Sickness Not a Bad Symptom. 

Sickness frequently comes on in the beginning of the labor, and 
may continue during the whole process. She is not only sick, but she 
actually vomits, and she can keep little or nothing on her stomach. 
Now, sickness in labor is rather a favorable symptom, and is usually 
indicative of a kind and easy confinement. There is an old saying 
that " sick labors are safe." Although they may be safe, they are 
decidedly disagreeable. Sickness, during labor, does good ; it softens 
and dilates the parts concerned in parturition, and shows that the 
patient is working in downright earnest. 

There is, in such a case, little or nothing to be done, as the less an 
irritable stomach is meddled with the better. The sickness will prob- 
ably leave as soon as the labor is over. She mus. not, on any 
account, force down food— as her female friends or as a " potter- 
ing" old nurse may advise — to "grinding pains;" if she do, it 
will rather retard than forward her labor. She had better, during 
this stage, either walk about or sit down, and not confine herself to 
bed; indeed, there is no necessity for her, unless she particularly desire 
it, to remain in her chamber. 

If, at the commencement of her labor, the " waters should break." 
even if there be no pain, the medical man ought immediately to h& 



PARTURITION, OR LABOR. 



168 



sent for, as, in such a case, it is necessary that he should know the 
exact presentation of the child. 

After an uncertain length of time the character of the pains alters. 
From being "grinding," they become ''bearing down," and are 




THE BACK FACE OF THE GRAVID UTERUS (wOMB) AND ANTERIOR FACE 
OF THE VAGINA AT THE END OF THE FIFTH MONTH. 

now more regular and frequent, and the skin becomes both hot 
and perspiring. These may be considered the true labor-pains. The 
patient ought to bear in mind, then, that the true labor-pains are 
situated in the back and loins ; they come on at regular intervals. 



164 PARTURITION, OR LABOR. 

rise gradually up to a certain pitch of intensity, and abate as gradu- 
ally ; it is a dull, heavy, deep sort of pain, producing occasionally a 
low moan from the patient ; not sharp or twinging, which would elicit 
a very different expression of suffering from her. 

As soon as the pains assume a " bearing-down " character, the doc- 
tor ought to be in attendance ; if he be sent for during the early 
stage, when the pains are of a " grinding " character, and when they 
come on ** few and far between " and at uncertain intervals (unless, 
as before stated, "the waters should break" early), he can do no 
good ; for, if he attempt in the early stage to force on the labor, he 
might do irreparable mischief 

Frequent Changes of Position. 

Cramps of the legs and thighs are a frequent, although not a con- 
stant, attendant on childbirth. These cramps come on more espe- 
cially if the patient be kept for a lengthened period in one position ; 
hence, the importance of allowing her, during the first and the second 
stages of labor, to move about the room. Cramps are generally 
worse during the third or last stage of labor, and, then, if they otcur 
at all, they usually accompany each pain. The poor patient, in such 
a case, has, not only to bear the labor-pains, but the cramp-pains. 
Now, there is no danger in these cramps ; it is rather a sign that the 
child is making rapid progress, as he is pressing upon the nerves 
which supply the thighs. 

The nurse ought to well rub with her warm hand the cramped 
parts ; and, if the labor be not too far advanced, it would be well for 
the patient to change her position, and to sit on a chair, or, if she feel 
inclined, to walk about the room ; there being, of course, an attend- 
ant, one on each side, to support her the while. If either a pain or a 
cramp should come on while she is thus moving about, let her 
instantly take hold of something for support. 

Labor — and truly it may be called '' labor " — is a natura\ process, 
and, therefore, ought not unnecessarily to be interfered with, or woe 
betide the unfortunate patient. We firmly believe that a woman 




POSITION OF THE CHILD AT BIRTH. 



PARTURITION, OR LABOR. 165 

would stand a much better chance of getting well over her confine- 
ment without assistance than if she had been hurried with assistance. 

In a natural labor very little assistance is needed, and the doctor is 
only required in the room occasionally to ascertain that things are 
going on rightly. Those ladies do best, both at the time and after- 
wards, who arc the least interfered with. Bear this in mind, and let 
it be legibly written on your memory. This advice, of course, only 
holds good in natural confinements. Meddlesome midwifery cannot 
be too strongly reprobated. The duty of a doctor is to watch the 
progress of a childbirth, in order that if there be anything wrong, he 
may rectify it ; but if the labor be going on well, he has no business 
to interfere, and he need not be much in the lying-in room, although 
he should be in an adjoining apartment. 

There are times, and times without number, when a medical man 
is called upon to do but little or nothing, and there are others — few 
and far between — when it is imperatively necessary that he should 
do a great deal. He ought, at all times, to be as gentle as a lamb, 
but should, in certain contingencies, be as fearless as a lion. 

Use of Instruments. 

An accoucheur's hand should be firm, and yet gentle ; his heart 
should be tender, and yet brave. Having made up his mind to the 
right course, he should pursue it without let or hindrance, without 
interference, without wavering and without loss of time. Moments in 
such cases are most precious ; they often determine whether the 
mother shall do well, and whether the babe shall live or die. How 
many a child has died in the birth, in a hard and tedious labor, from 
the use of instruments having been too long delayed. Instruments, 
in a proper case and judiciously applied, are most safe ; they are 
nothing more than thin hands — to bring away the head — when the 
head is low enough in the birth — the doctor's hands being too 
thick for the purpose. Many hours of intense suffering, and many 
years of unavailing regrets from the needless loss of the child might 
have been saved if instruments had been used the moment mechanical 



166 PARTURITION, OR LABOR 

aid was indicated — that is to say, in a case, for instance, where ^.i^' 
child remained for some hours stationary in the birth, although the 
pains continued intensely strong and very forcing. Hence, the 
importance, in midwifery, of employing a man of talent, of experi- 
ence, of judgment and of decision. No branch of the profession 
requires more skill than that of an accoucheur. 

The first confinement is generally twice the length o£ time of an 
after one, and usually the more children a lady has had, the quicker 
is her labor ; but this is by no means always the case, as some of the 
after-labors may be the tedious, while the early ones may be the 
quick ones. It ought to be borne in mind, too, that tedious labors 
are oftentimes natural, and that they only require time and patier.ce 
from all concerned to bring them to a successful issue. 

Usual Length of Time. 

It may be said that a first labor, as a rule, lasts six hours, while an 
after-confinement probably lasts but three. This space of time,. of 
course, does not usually include the commencement of labor pains ; 
but the time that a lady may be actually said to be in real travail. 
If we are to reckon from the commencement of the labor, we ought 
to double the above numbers — that is to say, we should make the 
average duration of a first labor, twelve ; of an after one, six hours. 

When a lady marries late m life — for instance, after she has passed 
the age of thirty — her first labor is usually much more lingering, 
painful and tedious, demanding a great stock of patience from the 
patient, from the doctor and from the friends ; notwithstanding whichj 
if she be not hurried and be not much interfered with, both she 
and her babe generally do remarkably well. Supposing a lady marries 
late in life, it is only the first confinement that is usually hard and 
lingering ; the after-labors are as easy as though she had married 
:vhen young. 

Slow labors are not necessarily dangerous; on the contrary, a 
patient frequeTitly has a better and more rapid recovery, provided 
there has been no interference, after a tedious than after a quick 



PARTURITION, OR LABOR. 167 

coniinement — proving beyond doubt that nature hates hurry and 
interference. It is an old saying, and we believe a true one, that a 
lying-in woman must have pain either before or after her labor ; and 
it certainly is far preferable that she should have the pain and suffering 
before than after the delivery is over. 

Results Effected by After-Pains. 

It is well for a patient to know that, as a rule, after a first confine- 
ment, she never has after-pains. This is some consolation, and is a 
kind of compensation for her usually suffering more with her first 
child. The aftc^^-pains generally increase in intensit}^ with every 
additional child. The after-pains are intended by nature to contract, 
to reduce, the womb somewhat to its non-pregnant size, and to assist 
clots in coming avvay, and therefore ought not to be needlessly inter- 
fered with. A judicious medical man will, however, if the pains be 
very severe, prescribe medicine to moderate, not to stop, them. A 
doctor, fortunately, possesses valuable remedies to alleviate the after- 
pains. 

Nature, beneficent nature, ofttimes works in secret, and is doing 
good service by preparing for the coming event, unknown to all 
around. Pain, in the veiy earliest stages of labor, is not a necessary 
attendant. Although pain and suffering are the usual concomitants 
of childbirth, there are, nevertheless, well authenticated cases on 
record of painless parturition. 

The Three Stages of Labor. 

A natural labor may be divided into three stages. The first, the 
premonitory stage, comprising the ''falling" or subsidence of the 
womb, and the ''show." The second, the dilating stage, which is 
known by the pains being of a "grinding" nature, and in which the 
mouth of the womb gradually opens or dilates until it is sufficiently 
large to admit the exit of the head of the child, when it becoQies the 
third, the completing stage, which is now indicated by the pains being 
of a "bearing-down," expulsive character. 



168 PARTURITION, OR LABOR. 

Now, in the first or premonitory stage, which is much the longert 
of the three stages, it is neither necessary nor desirable that the patient 
should be confined to her room ; on the contrary, it is better for her to 
be moving about the house, and to be attending to her household duties. 

In the second and dilating stage, it will be necessary that she 
should be confined to her room, but not to her bed. If the drawing- 
room be near at hand, she ought occasionally to walk to it, and if a 
pain should come on the while, lie on the sofa. In this stage it is not 
at all desirable that she should keep her bed, or even lie much on it. 
She is better up and about, and walking about the room. 

A Necessary Caution. 

In the first and second stages she must not, on any account, strain 
or bear down to the pains, as many ignorant nurses advise, as by 
robbing her of her strength it would only retard the delivery. 
Besides, while the mouth of the womb is dilating, bearing down 
cannot be of the slightest earthly use — the womb is not in a fit. state 
to expel its contents. If by bearing down she could (but which, 
fortunately, she cannot) cause the expulsion of the child, it would, at 
this stage, be attended with frightful consequences— no less than with 
the rupture of the womb. Therefore, for the future let not a lady be 
persuaded, either by an ignorant nurse or by an officious friend, to 
bear down until the last or the completing stage, when a gentle bear- 
ing-down will assist the pains to expel the child. 

In the third or completing stage it is, of course, necessary that she 
should lie on the bed, and that she should, as above advised, bear 
gently down to the painSo The bearing-down pains will indicate to her 
when to bear down. 

If, towards the last, she be in great pain, and if she feel inclined to 

do so, let her cry out, and it will relieve her. A foolish nurse will 

tell her that if she make a noise it will do her harm. Away with such 

^olly, and have nothing to do with such simpletons. Shakespeare 

gives excellent advice in this matter : 

*' Give sorrow words: the grief, that does not speak, 
Whispers the o'er-fraught heart, and bids it break,'* 



f 



PARTURITION, OR LABOR. 169 

The position varies according to the country. Delivery, in some 
countries, such as France, is usually effected while the patient is lying 
on her back ; in other countries, while she is standing ; in others, 
while she is on her knees ; in others, while she is in a kind of an arm- 
chair, made for the purpose, with a false bottom to it, and called a 
" groaning- zhair ;" while, in other instances, such as in England, the 
patient is delivered while she is on her left side, and which is, both for 
the doctor and for the patient, by far the most delicate, convenient and 
safe method. 

We should strongly prefer a patient not to put everything off to the 
last. She must take care to have in readiness a good pair of scissors 
and a skein of whitey-brown thread. And she ought to have in the 
house a small pot of preparea lard, and a flask of salad oil, that they 
may be at hand in case they be wanted. Some doctors, at such 
times, prefer the prepared lard ; while others prefer the salad oil. Let 
everything necessary, both for herself and the babe, be well aired and 
ready for immediate use, and be placed in such order that all things 
may, without hurry or bustle, at a moment's notice be found. 

Treatment for Costiveness. 

Another preparation for childbirth, and a most important one, is 
attending to the state of the bowels. If they be at all costive, the 
moment there is the slightest premonitory symptom of labor, she 
ought to take either a tablespoonful or a dessert-spoonful (according 
to the nature of her bowels, whether she be easily moved or other- 
wise,) of castor oil. If she object to taking the oil, then let her have 
an enema of warm water — a pint — administered. She will, by adopt- 
ing either of the above plans, derive the greatest comfort and advan- H 
tage ; it will prevent her delicacy from being shocked by having her 
bowels opened, without her being able to prevent them, during the 
last stage of the labor ; and It will, by giving the adjacent parts more 
room, much expedite the delivery and lessen her sufferings. 

The next thing to be attended to is the way in which she ought to 
be dressed for the occasion. We would recommend her to put on 



170 PARTURITION, OR LABOR. 

her clean night-gown ; which, in order to keep it unsoiled, should be 
smoothly and carefully rolled up about her waist ; then she ought to 
wear over it a short bed-gown reaching to her hips, and have on a 
flannel petticoat to meet it, and then she should over all put on a 
dressing-gown. If it be winter, the dressing-gown had better either 
be composed of flannel or be lined with that material. 

The stays must not be worn, as by preventing the muscles of the) 
chest and of the belly from helping the expulsion of the child, they 
would interfere with the progress of the labor. 

Away with Gossiping Croakers. 

Many attendants are not only unnecessary, but injurious. They 
excite and flurry the patient, they cause noise and confusion, and rob 
the air of its purity. One lady friend, besides the doctor and the 
monthly nurse, is all that is needed. In making the selection of a 
friend, care should be taken that she be the mother of a family, that 
she be kind-hearted and self-possessed, and of a cheerful turn of 
mind. All *' chatterers," " croakers " and '' potterers " ought, at 
these times, to be carefully excluded from the lying-in room. No 
conversation of a depressing character should for one moment be 
\llowed. Nurses and friends who are in the habit of telling of bad 
jases that have occurred in their experience, must be avoided as the 
plague. If nurses have had bad cases, many of them have probably 
been of their own making ; such nurses, therefore, ought, on every 
account, to be shunned. 

Another preparation for labor is, to soothe her mind by telling her 
of the usual safety of confinements, and by assuring her that, in the 
generality of instances, it is a natural process, and no disease what- 
ever, and that all she had to do is to keep up her spirits, to adhere 
strictly to the rules of her doctor, to have a little patience, and that 
she will do remarkably well. Remind her, too, of passages from the 
sweet Singer of Israel, which are full of hope and of comfort : 
" Heaviness may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." 
"Thou hast turned my heaviness into joy," and "girded me with 



PARTURITION, OR LABOR. 171 

gladness." *' They that sow in tears shall reap in joy." Again : " I 
Wcis in misery, and he helped me." 

Joy that a Child is Born. 

Tell her, too, that " sweet is pleasure after pain," and of the exqui- 
site happiness and joy she will feel as soon as her labor is over, as, 
perhaps, the greatest thrill of delight a woman ever experiences in 
vhis world is when her babe is first born. She, as if by magic, forgets 
all the sorrow and suffering she has endured. Keble, in the Christian 
Year, well observes : 

" Mysterious to all thought, 
A mother's prime of bliss, 
When to her eager lips is brought 
Her infant's thrilling kiss." 

How beautifully, too, he sings of the gratitude of a woman to God 
for her safe delivery from the perils and pangs of childbirth : 

"Only let heaven her fire impart, 

No richer incense breathes on earth : 
*A spouse with all a daughter's heart,' 

Fresh from the perilous birth, 
To the great Father 'lifts her pale glad eye. 
Like a reviving dower when storms are hushed on high.'* 

Chloroform in Hard and Lingering Labor. 

Mothers and doctors are indebted to Sir James Simpson for the 
mtroduction of chloroform, one of the greatest and most valuable 
discoveries ever conferred on suftering humanity. 

Dr. Simpson, on first propounding the theory of the application of 
chloroform to patients requiring surgical aid, was stoutly opposed by 
cenain objectors, who held that to check the sensation of pain in con- 
nection with "visitations of God" was to contravene the decrees of an 
/Ml- wise Creator. What was his answer? That the Creator, during 
the process of extracting the ribs from Adam, must necessarily have 
adopted a somewhat corresponding artifice — '' For did not God throw 
Adam into a deep sleep?" The Pietists were satisfied, and the dis- 
f^overer triumphed over ignoble and ignorant prejudice. 



172 PARTURITION, OR LABOR. 

The inhalation of chloroform, according to the will of the operator, 
causes cither partial or complete unconsciousness, and, either for a 
longer or for a shorter time, freedom from pain. In other words, the 
effects might with perfect safety be continued either for a few minutes, 
or from time to time for several hours ; indeed, if given in proper 
cases, and by a judicious doctor, with immense benefit, and with 
perfect safety. 

Chloroform is more applicable and useful in a labor, more especially 
in a first confinement, when it is lingering, when the throes are very 
severe, and when, notwithstanding the pain, the labor is making but 
little progress; then chloroform is a priceless boon. Chloroform, too, 
is, when the patient is of a nervous temperament, and when she looks 
forward with dread and apprehension to every pain, very beneficial. 

It might be asked, would you give chloroform in every case of 
labor, be it ever so easy and quick? Certainly not it is neither 
advisable nor expedient in an ordinary, easy, quick confinement to 
administer it. The cases in which it is desirable to give chloroform 
are all lingering, hard and severe ordinary labors ; in such we would 
gladly use it. 

Chloroform, Properly Administered, is Safe. 

One important consideration in the giving of chloroform in labor is 
that a patient has seldom, if ever, while under the effects of it, been 
known to die ; which is more than can be said when it has been 
administered in surgical operations, in the extraction of teeth, etc. 
Says Dr. Kidd : " I know there is not one well-attested death from 
chloroform in midwifery in all our journals." 

One reason why it may be so safe to give chloroform in labor is 
that in the practice of midwifery a medical man does not deem it 
needful to put his patient under the extreme influence of it. He 
administers just enough to ease her pain, but not sufficient to rob her 
of total consciousness ; while in a surgical operation the surgeon may 
consider it necessary to put his patient under the full influence of 
chloroform ; hence the safety in the one, and the danger in the other 




THE HEART AND LUNGS, SHOWING THE BLOOD-VESSELS IN THE LUNGS 
THE RUPTURE OF ANY ONE MAY CAUSE SPITTING OF BLOOD. 



PARTURITION, OR T.ABOR. 



173 



case. It is quite possible to afford immense relief, to '' render the 
pains quite bearable," as a patient of mine observed, oy a dose which 
does not procure sleep or impair the mental condition of the patient, 
and which all our experience would show is absolutely free from 
danger. 

Chloroform ought never to be administered, either to a patient in 
labor or to any one else, except by a medical practitioner. This advice 
admits of no exception. And chloroform should never be given unless 
it be either in a lingering or in a hard labor. As we have before 




TWIN PLACENTA, OR AFTERBIRTHS, SHOWING NAVEL-STRINGS. 

advised, in a natural, easy, every-day labor, nature ought not to be 
interfered with, but should be allowed to run its own course. 
Patience, gentleness, and non-interference are the best and the chief 
requisites required in the majority of labor cases. 

When the Doctor is Unavoidably Absent. 

It frequently happens that after the first confinement the labor is so 
rapid that the child is born before the doctor has time to reach the 
patient. It is consequently highly desirable — nay, imperatively neces- 
sary — for the interest and for the well-doing both of the mother and 



1 



174 PARTURITION, OR LABOR. 

of the babe, that either the nurse or the lady friend should, in such an 
einergenc}', know what to do and what not to do. We, therefore, in 
the few following paragraphs, purpose, in the simplest and clearest 
language we can command, to enlighten them on the subject. 

Directions to the Attendants. 

In the first place, let the attendants be both calm and self possessed, 
and let there be no noise, no shuffling, no excitement, no whispering, 
and no talking, and let the patient be made to thoroughly understand 
that there is not the slightest danger, as the principal danger will be 
in causing unnecessary fears both as to herself and her child. Thou- 
sands of children are born without the slightest assistance from a 
doctor — he not being at hand or not being in time — and yet both 
mother and babe almost invariably do well. Let her be informed 
of this fact — for it is a fact — and it will be a comfort to her. 

In the meantime, let the following directions be followed : Supposing 
a child to be born before the medical man arrives, the nurse ought 
then to ascertain whether a coil of navel-string be around the neck of 
the infant; if it be, it must be instantly liberated, or he might be 
strangled. Care should be taken that he has sufficient room to 
breathe, that there be not a ''membrane" over his mouth, and that 
his face be not buried in the clothes. Any mucus about the mouth 
of the babe ought, with a soft napkin, to be wiped away, or it might 
impede the breathing. 

How to Treat Apparent Stillbirths. 

If the babe should be born apparently dead, a few smart blows must 
be given on the buttocks and on the back ; a smelling-bottle ought 
to be applied to the nostrils, or rag should be singed under the nose, 
taking care that the burning tinder does not touch the skin, and cold 
water must be freely sprinkled on the face. But after all, a good 
smacking of the bottom, in an apparently still-born babe, is, in restor- 
ing animation, often the most handy, quick and ready remedy. Thou- 
sands of apparently still-born children have, by this simple remedy 



PARTURITIO!^, OK 1.ABOR. 



175 



alone, been saved from threatened death. If you can once make an 

apparently still-born babe cry — and cry he must — he is, as a rule, safe. 

The navel-string, as long as there is pulsation in it, ought not to be tied. 

The limbs, the back and the chest of the child ought, with the 




POSITION OF TWINS IN THE WOMB. 

warm hand, to be well rubbed. The face should not be smothered in 
the clothes. If pulsation have ceased in the navel-string (the above 
rules having been strictly followed, and having failed), let the navel- 
string be tied and divided, and then let the child be plunged into 
warm water— 98^ Fahr. If the sudden plunge does not rouse res- 



176 PARTURITION, OR LABOR. 

piration into action, let him be taken out of the warm bath, as the 
keeping him for any length of time in the water will be of no avail. 

If these simple means should not quickly succeed, although they 
generally will, Dr. Marshall Hall's *' Ready Method " ought in the 
following manner to be tried : " Place the infant on his face, turn the 
body gently but completely on the side and a little beyond, and theri 
on the face alternately ; repeating these measures deliberately, effi- 
ciently and perseveringly, fifteen times in the minute only." 

HoTV to Restore Suspended Animation. 

Another plan of restoring suspended animation is by artificial res- 
piration, which should be employed in the following manner : Let the 
nurse (in the absence of the doctor) squeeze with her left hand the 
child's nose to prevent any passage of air through the nostrils ; then 
let her apply her mouth to the child's mouth, and breathe into it, in 
order to inflate the lungs ; as soon as they are inflated, the air ought, 
with the right hand, to be pressed out again, so as to imitate natural 
breathing. Again and again for several minutes, and for about fifteen 
times a minute, should the above process be repeated, and the operator 
will frequently be rev/arded by hearing a convulsive sob. which will be 
the harbinger of renewed life. 

Until animation be restored, the navel-string, provided there be 
pulsation in it, ought not to be tied. If it be tied before the child 
have breathed, and before he have cried, he will have but a slight 
chance of recovery. While the navel-string is left entire, provided 
there be still pulsation in it, he has the advantage of the mother's cir- 
culation and support. 

Should the child have been born for some time before the doctor 
have arrived, it may be necessary to tie and to divide the navel-string. 
The manner of performing it is as follows : A ligature, composed of 
four or five whitey-brown threads, nearly a foot in length, and with a 
knot at each end, ought, by a double knot, to be tightly tied al 
about two inches from the body of the child around the navel-string, 
A second ligature must, in a similar manner, be applied about three 



PARTURITION, OR LABOR. 



177 



inches from the first, and the navel-string should be carefully divide(C 
midway between the two ligatures. Of course, if the medical man 
be shortly expected, any interference would not be advisable, as such 
matters ought always to be left entirely to him. 

The afterbirth must 
never be brought away 
by the nurse. If the 
doctor have not arrived, 
it should be allowed to 
come away (which, if left 
alone, in the generality 
of cases it usually will) 
of its own accord. The 
only treatment that the 
nurse ought in such a 
case to adopt is, that 
she apply, by means of 
her right hand, firm pres- 
sure over the region of 
the womb ; this will hav^- 
the effect of encouraging 
the contraction of the 
womb, of throwing off 
the afterbirth and of pre- 
venting violent flooding. 

If the afterbirth does 
not soon rome away, 
say in an hour, or if 
there be flooding, an- 
other physician ought to be sent for; but on no account should 
the nurse be allowed to interfere with it further than by applying 
firm pressure over the region of the womb, and not touching the 
navel-string at all, as we have known dangerous, and in some cases 
even fatal, consequences to ensue from such meddling. Officious 
12 




BATTLEDORE PLACENTA, OR AFTERBIRTH, 
SHOWING NAVEL-STRING. 



17S PARTURITION, OR TABOR. 

nurses have frequently been known, in their anxiety, to get the labor 
entirely ov^cr by themselves, without the doctor's assistance, to actu- 
ally tear away by violence the navel-string from the afterbirth — the 
afterbirth being the while in the womb — the blood in consequence 
flowing away from the lacerated afterbirth in torrents ; so that the 
moment the doctor arrives — if he fortunately arrive in time—he has 
been obliged, in order to save his patient's life, to introduce his 
hand at once into the womb, and to bring the afterbirth bodily 
away. Meddlesome nurses are, then, most dangerous, and should be 

carefully shunned. 

Rest After Delivery. 

A lady, for at least an hour after delivery, ought not to be dis- 
turbed ; if she be, violent flooding might be produced. The doctor, 
of course, will, by removing the soiled napkins, and by applying clean 
ones in their place, make her comfortable. Her head ought to be 
,easy ; she must still lie on her side ; indeed, for the first hour, let her 
remain nearly in the same position as that in which she was confined, 
with this only difference, that if her feet have been pressing against 
the bed-post, they should be removed from that position. 

Clothing After Labor. 

She ought, after the lapse of an hour or two, to be r^'^ved from 
one side of the bed to the other. It should be done in the most 
tender and cautious manner. She must not, on any account whatever, 
be allowed to sit erect in the bed. While being moved, she herself 
should be passive — that is to say, she ought to use no exertion — no 
effort — Vjut should, by two attendants, be removed from side to side ; 
one must take hold of her shoulders, the other of her hips. 

A patient, after delivery, usually feels shivering and starved ; it will 
therefore be necessary to throw additional clothing, such as a 
blanket or two, over her, which ought to envelop the body, and 
should be well tucked around her ; but the nurse ought to be careful 
not to overload her with clothes, or it might produce flooding, fainting, 
etc As soon, therefore, as she be warmer, let the extra clothing be 



PARTURITION, OR LABOR. 17^ 

gradually removed. If the feet be cold, let them be wrapped in a 

warm flannel petticoat, over which a pillow should be placed. 

A frequent change of linen after childbirth is desirable. Nothing 

is more conducive to health than cleanliness. Great care should be 

taken to have the sheets and linen well aired. A foolish nurse fancies 

that clean linen will give her patient cold, and that dirty linen will 

prevent it, and keep her warm . Such folly is most dangerous. A 

lying-in woman should bear in mind that dirt breeds fever and fosters 

infectious diseases. There would, if cleanliness (of course we include 

pure water in this category) and ventilation were more observed than 

they are, be very little of fever, or of infectious diseases of any kind 

in the world. 

Refreshment After Labor. 

A cup of cool, black tea, directly after the patient is confined, ought 
to be given. We say cool, not cold, as cold tea might chill her. Hot 
tea would be improper, as it might induce flooding. As soon as she 
is settled in bed, there is nothing better than a small basin of warm 
gruel. 

Brandy ought never, unless ordered by the doctor, to be given after 
a confinement. Warm beer is also objectionable ; indeed, stimulants 
of all kinds must, unless advised by the doctor, be carefully avoided, 
as they would only produce fever, and probably inflammation. 

Bandage After Labor. 

This consists of thick linen, similar to sheeting, about a yard and a 
half long, and sufficiently broad to comfortably support the belly 
Two or three folded diapers — folded in a triangular shape — should be 
first applied over the region of the womb, and then the bandage should 
be neatly and smoothly applied around the lower portion of the belly 
to keep the diapers firmly fixed in their position. The bandage ought 
to be put on moderately tight, and should be retightened every night 
and morning, or oftener if it become slack. If there be not either a 
proper bandage or binder at hand, a yard and a half of unbleached 
calico, folded double, will answer the purpose. 



180 PARTURITION, OR LABOR. 

A support to the belly after labor is important ; in the first place, it 
is a great comfort ; in the second, it induces the belly to return to its 
original size ; and, lastly, it prevents flooding. Those ladies, more 
especially if they have had large families, who have neglected proper 
bandaging after their confinements, frequently suffer from enlarged 
and pendulous bellies, which give them an unwieldly and ungainly 
appearance ; indeed, completely ruining their figures. 

Placing the Patient in Bed. 

She ought not, immediately after a labor, under any pretext or 
pretence whatever, to be allowed to raise herself in bed. If she be 
dressed as recommended in a previous paragraph, her soiled linen may 
readily be removed ; and she may be drawn up by two assistants — 
one being at her shoulders and the other at her legs— to the proper 
placq as she herself must not be allowed to use the slightest 
exertion. Inattention to the above recommendation has sometimes 
caused violent flooding, fainting, bearing-down of the womb, etc., and 
in some cases even fatal consequences. 

The Lying-in Roome 

A nurse is too apt, after the confinement is over, to keep a large 
fire. Nothing is more injurious than to have the temperature of a 
lying-in room high. A little fire, provided the weather be cold, to 
dress the baby by, and to encourage a circulation of the air, is desir- 
able. A fire-guard ought to be used when there is an open fire in the 
room. The door, in order to change the air of the apartment, must 
occasionally be left ajar ; a lying-in woman requires pure air as much 
as or more than any other person ; but how frequently does a silly 
nurse fancy that it is dangerous for her to breathe it. 

Unventilated air is bad air ; bad air is bad for ever}' one, but espe- 
cially for a lying-in patient. Bad air is only another name for 
poisoned air ; bad air is spent air — is full of air that has been breathed 
over and over again until it becomes foul and foetid, and quite unfit to 
be what it ought to be, food for the lungs. Bad air is a wholesale 



PARTURITION, OR LABOR. 181 

poisoner. Bad air is one cause why the death-rate is so fearfully 
high. Bad air, bad drains, and bad water — water contaminated with 
faecal matter from the water-closets — are the three Grand Execu 
tioners ; they destroy annually tens of thousands of victims, selecting 
especially delicate women and helpless children. 

Perfect Quiet Indispensable. 

After the labor is over, the blinds ought to be put down, and the 
window-curtains should be drawn, in order to induce the patient to 
have a sleep, and thus to rest herself after her hard work. Perfect 
stillness must reign, both in the room and in the house. This advice 
is most important. 

It is really surprising, in this present enlightened age, how much 
ignorance there still is among the attendants of a lying-in room ; they 
fancy labor to be a disease, instead of being what it really is — a 
natural process — and that old-fashioned notions, and not common sense 
ought to guide them. Oh, it is sad, that a child-bed woman should, 
of all the people in the world, be in an especial manner the target foi 
folly shafts to aim at. 

The patient should, after the birth of her child, be strictly pro- 
hibited from talking, and noisy conversation ought not to be allowed; 
indeed, she cannot be kept too quiet, as she may then be induced to 
fall into a sweet sleep, which would recruit her wasted strength. As 
soon as the babe be washed and dressed, and the mother be made 
comfortable in bed, the nurse ought alone to remain ; let every one 
else be banished the lying-in room. Visitors should on no account, 
until the medical man give permission, be allowed to see the patient. 

Many a patient has been made really feverish and ill by a thought- 
less visitor, connived at by a simpleton of a nurse, intruding herself, 
soon after a confinement, into the lying-in room. It should be borne 
in mind, and let there be no mistake about it, that for the first ten 
days or a fortnight, a lying-in woman cannot be kept too quiet ; that 
excitement at such times is sure to be followed by debility, and that 
excitement is a species of dram-drinking, which leaves a sting behind 



I 



182 PARTURITION, OR LABOR. 

Bad gettings about are frequently due to visitors being allowed to see 
and to chatter with lying-in patients. 

It is high time that this reprehensible practice was put an end to. 
If a friend have the patient's welfare really at heart, she should not, 
until the expiration of at least ten days, visit her. Of course, 
inquiries may, from time to time, be made at the street door, but no 
visitors, during that time, should be admitted into the lying-in chamber. 
We are quite sure that if this advice w^ere strictly followed, much suf- 
fering may be averted. Perfect rest after confinement is most essential 
to recovery, and is the best of medicines. 

Attention to the Bladder. 

If there be any difficulty in her making water, the medical man 
must, through the nurse, be immediately informed of it. False 
delicacy ought never to stand in the way of this advice. It should be 
borne in mind, that after either a very lingering or a severe labor there 
is frequently retention of urine — that is to say, that although the 
bladder may be full of water, the patient is, without assistance, unable 
io eject it. 

If she be not successful — twenty-four hours having elapsed — ^the 
■doctor must be informed of the fact, and it will then be necessary — 
absolutely necessary — for him, by means of a catheter, to draw off the 
jvater. It might be well to state that the passing of a catheter is 
unattended with cither the slighest danger or with the least pain ; and 
that it is done without exposing her, and thus without shocking her 
modesty, and that it will afford instant relief. Sometimes one passing 
of the catheter is sufficient ; at other times it has, for three or four 
days, or even longer — that is to say, until the bladder has recovered 
its tone — to be passed daily. If a patient would, during the progress 
of her confinement, more especially if the labor be tedious, pass water 
frequently, say every two or three hours, the necessity of passing a 
catheter, after the labor is over, would often be picvented. Now this 
advice, is worth bearing in mind. 

An enema is,, both during suckling a.ia during pregnancy, an 



PARTURITION, OR LABOR. 183 

admirable method of opening costive bowels, and deserves to be more 
universally followed than it now is ; fortunately, the plan is making 
rapid progress, and shortly will, at such times, entirely supersede the 
necessity of administering aperients by the mouth. Aperients by the 
mouth are both a clumsy and a roundabout way of opening costive 
bowels, and sometimes harass the patient exceedingly. 

The lower bowel, and not the stomach, wants emptying ; the stom- 
ach wants leaving alone, and not to be worried by opening physic. 
The stomach has its proper work to do, namely, to digest the food 
put into it, and which aperients sadly interfere with ; hence the great 
value, in such cases, of enema, and of keeping the bowels open, when 
possible, by fruit and not by physic, by gentleness and not by violence. 

Aperients, after a confinement, were in olden times, as a matter of 
course, repeatedly given, both to the mother and to the babe, to their 
utter disgust and to their serious detriment. This was only one of 
the numerous mistakes, prejudices and follies that formerly prevailed 
in the lymg-in room. Unfortunately, in those days a confinement was 
looked upon as a disease, and to be physicked accordingly ; there 
was some imaginary evil to be driven out. A better state of things is, 
happily, now beginning to dawn ; but there is great darkness of igno- 
rance — and ignorance is, indeed, dark — still to be dispelled. 

Ablutions for the Watery Discharge. 

The watery discharge occurs directly after a lying-in, and lasts 
either a week or a fortnight, and sometimes even longer. It is, 
at first, of z. reddish color ; this gradually changes to a brownish hue, 
and afterwards to a greenish shade ; hence the name of " green 
waters." It has in some cases a disagreeable odor. A moderate 
discharge is necessary ; but when it is profuse, it weakens the patient. 

Some ignorant nurses object to having the parts bathed after delivery ; 
they have the impression that such a proceeding would give cold. 
Now, warm fomentations twice a day, and even oftener, either if the 
discharge or if the state of the parts require it, are absolutely indis- ' 
j^ensable t^ health, to cleanliness and comfort, Ablutions, inde?(^j at 



184 PARTURITION, OR LABOR. 

this time are far more necessary than at any other period of a woman's 
existence. Neglect of bathing the parts, at these times, is shamefu] 
neglect, and leads to miserable consequences. 

There is nothing better for the purpose of these bathings than a 
soft sponge and warm water, unless the parts be very sore ; if they be, 
a warm fomentation, two or three times a day, of marshmallows and 
camomile, will afford great relief; or the parts may be bathed with 
warm, well-made and well-boiled oatmeal gruel — of course, without 
salt. In these cases, too, we have found warm barm (yeast) and 
water a great comfort, and which will soon take away the soreness. 
The parts ought, after each fomentation, to be well but quickly dried 
with warm, dry, soft towels. The parts, after the bathing and the 
drying, should, by means of a piece of linen rag, be well annointed 
with warm salad oil. Warm salad oil for this purpose is a most 
soothing, healing and comforting dressing, and is far superior to all 
animal greases. 

A Good Nurse Required. 

If the internal parts be very sore, it will be necessary, two or three 
times a day, to syringe them out by means of an india-rubber vaginal 
syringe, with either of the above remedies. Hence the importance of 
having a good monthly nurse — of having one who thoroughly under- 
stands her business. 

Let the above rules be strictly followed. Let no prejudices and no 
old-fashioned notions, either of the nurse or of any female friend, 
stand in the way of the above advice. Ablution of the parts, then, 
after a confinement, and that frequently, is absolutely required, or evil 
results will, as a matter of course, ensue. 

A horizontal — a level — ^position for either ten days or a fortnight 
after a labor is important. A lady frequently fancies that, if she 
support her legs, it is all that is necessary. Now, this is absurd ; it is 
the womb, and not the legs, that requires rest ; and the only way to 
obtain it is by lying flat either on a bed or on a sofa ; for the first five 
or six days, day and night, on a bed, and then for the next five or six 
days she ought to be removed for a short period of the day either to 



PARTURITION, OR LABOR. 185 

another bed or to a sofa ; which other bed or sofa should be wheeled 
to the side of the bed, and she must be placed on it by two assistants, 
one taking hold of her shoulders and the other of her hips, and thus 
lifting her on the bed or sofa, she herself being perfectly passive, and 
not being allowed to sit erect the while. She ought, during the time 
she is on the sofa, to maintain the level position. 

She ought, after the first nine days, to sit up for an hour ; she 
should gradually prolong the time of the sitting up, but still she must, 
for the first fortnight, lie down a great part of every day. She 
should, after the first week, lie either on a sofa or on a horse-hair 
mattress. 

Household Employmeiit. 

The above plan may appear irksome, but experience teaches that il: 
is necessary — absolutely necessary. The old saw, after a confinement, 
is well worth remembering : " To be soon w^ell, be long ill." The 
benefit the patient will ultimately reap from perfect rest and quietude 
will amply repay the temporary annoyance. Where the above rules 
have not been adopted, we have known flooding, bearing-down of the 
womb, and even ''falling" of the womb, frequent miscarriages and 
ultimately ruin of the constitution, to ensue. 

Some persons have an idea that a wife, for some months after 
childbirth, should be treated as an invalid — should lead an idle life. 
This is an error ; for all people in the world, a nursing mother should 
remember that ** employment is nature's physician, and is essential to 
human happiness." The best nurses and the healthiest mothers, as a 
rule, are workingmen's, wives, who are employed from morning until 
night — who have no spare time unemployed to feel nervous, or to 
make complaints of aches and of pains or pity themselves ; indeed, 
so well does "nature's physician" — employment — usually make 
them feel, that they have really no aches or pains at all — either real 
or imaginary — to complain of, but are hearty and strong, happy and 
contented ; indeed, the days are too short for them. 



CHAPTER XIV. 
Miscarriage, 

fbe Youiig Wife — Miscarriage Can Generally be Prevented — Necessity of Judicious 
Advice — Penalties of Ignorance — Causes of Premature Labor — Violence of 
Every Kind to be Avoided — Threatening Symptoms— Decided Symptoms — 
Two Stages — Time of Greatest Danger — Flooding Treatment for Miscarriage — 
Great Care Required — Sponge and Shower-baths — Separate Sleeping Apart- 
ment — Healthful Exercise. 

IF a premature expulsion of the child occur before the end of the 
seventh month, it is called either a miscarriage or an abortion ; 
if between the seventh month and before the full period of nine 
months, a premature labor. A premature labor, in the graphic lan- 
guage of the Bible, is called *' an untimely birth," and '' untimely " in 
every sense of the word it truly is. *' Untimely " for mother ; 
" untimely " for doctor ; ** untimely " for monthly nurse ; " untimely " 
for all preconcerted arrangements ; " untimely" for child, causing him 
" untimely " death. A more expressive word for the purpose it is 
impossible to find. 

There is a proneness for a young wife to miscarry, and woe betide 
her if she once establish the habit, for it, unfortunately, often becomes 
a habit. A miscarriage is a serious calamity, and should be considered 
in that light ; not only to the mother herself, whose constitution 
frequent miscarriages might seriously injure, and eventually ruin, but 
it might rob the wife of one of her greatest earthly privileges, the 
inestimable pleasure and delight of being a mother. 

Now, as a miscarriage may generally be prevented, it behooves a 
wife to look well into the matter, and to study the subject thoroughly 
for herself, in order to guard against her first miscarriage ; for the 
first miscarriage is the one that frequently leads to a series. How 
necessary it is that the above important fact should be borne in mind 
How much misery might be averted ; as then means would, by avoid- 
ing the usual causes, be taken to ward off such an awful calamity, 
186 



MISCARRIAGL. 187 

We are qaite convinced that in the majority of cases miscarriages may 

be prevented. 

Necessity of Correct Information. 

Hence the importance of a popular work of this kind — to point out 
dangers, to give judicious advice, that a wife may read, ponder over, 
and *' inwardly digest," and that she may see the folly of the present 
practices that wives — young wives especially — usually indulge in, and 
thus that she may avoid the rocks they split on, which make a ship- 
wreck of their most cherished hopes and treasures. How, unless a 
wife be taught, can she gain such information ? That she can know 
it intuidvely is utterly impossible. She can only know it from her 
doctor, and from him she does not often like to ask such questions. 

She must, therefore, by a popular work of this kind be enlightened, 
or loss of life to her unborn babe, and broken health to herself, will, 
in all probability, be the penalties of her ignorance. It is utter folly 
to say that all such matters should be left entirely to the doctor — the 
mischief is usually done before he is consulted ; besides, she herself is 
the right person to understand it, as she herself is the one to prevent 
it, and the one, if it be not prevented, to suffer. How many a broken 
constitution and an untimely end have resulted from the want of such 
knowledge as is contained in this book. It is perfectly ridiculous to 
assert that a doctor can, in a few minutes' consultation, thoroughly 
inform a pregnant female of all that is necessary for her to know for 
the prevention of a miscarriage. 

Causes and Evils of Miscarriage. 

Let it then be thoroughly understood — first, that a miscarriage is 
very weakening—more weakening than a labor ; and, secondly, that 
if a lady once miscarried, she is more likely to miscarry again and 
again, until, at length, her constitution be broken, and the chances of 
her having a child become small indeed. Woe betide such an one i/ 
she become the victim of such a habit. 

A slight cause will frequently occasion the separation of the child 
from the mother, and the consequent death and expulsion of the 



188 MISCARRIAGE. 

foetus ; hence the readiness with which a lady sometimes miscarries. 
The following are the most common causes of a young wife mis- 
carrying : Taking long walks ; riding on horseback, or over rough 
roads in a carriage ; a long railway journey ; over-exerting herself, 
and sitting up late at night ; too frequent sexual intercourse. Her 
mind just after marriage is oftentimes too much excited by large 
parties, by balls and concerts. 

The following are, moreover, frequent causes of a miscarriage : 
Falls ; all violent emotions of the mind, passion, fright, etc. ; fatigue -, 
over-reaching ; sudden shocks ; taking a wrong step either in ascend- 
ing or in descending stairs ; falling down stairs ; lifting heavy weights ; 
violent drastic purgatives ; calomel ; obstinate constipation ; debility 
of constitution ; consumptive habit of body; fashionable amusements; 
dancing ; late hours ; tight lacing — indeed, anything and everything 
that injuriously affects either the mind or the body. 

Long Railway Journeys. 

We have enumerated above, that taking a long railway journey h 
one cause of a miscarriage. It certainly is a cause, and a frequent 
cause, of a miscarriage. It is dangerous, until she have quickened, 
for a pregnant woman to take a long railway journey, as it might 
bring on a miscarriage. It is also attended with great risk for a lady 
who is enceinte, two or three months before she expects her confine- 
ment, to undertake a long journey by rail, as it might induce a 
premature labor, which often comes on about the seventh month. 
This advice, of course, holds good with tenfold force if a lady be 
prone to miscarry, or to bring forth a child prematurely ; indeed, a 
lady predisposed either to miscarry or to bring forth prematurely, 
ought not, during any period of her pregnancy, to take a long railway 
journey, as it might be attended with disastrous consequences. 

The old maxim that "prevention is better than cure" is well exem- 
plified in the case of a miscarriage. Let us, then, appeal strongly to 
)ur fair reader to do all that she can, by avoiding the usual causes of 
a miscarriage which we have above enumerated, to prevent such 3 



MISCARRIAGE. 189 

catastrophe. A miscarriage is no trifling matter ; it is one of the most 
grievous accidents that can occur to a wife, and is truly a catastrophe. 

Threatening or Warning Symptoms. 

A lady about to miscarry usually, for one or two days, experiences 
a feeling of lassitude, of debility, of malaise, and depression of spirits ; 
she feels as though she were going to be taken *' poorly ;" she cov..- 
plains of weakness and of uneasiness about the loins, the hips, the 
thighs, and the lower part of the belly. This is an important stage 
of the case, and one in which a judicious medical man may, almost to 
a certainty, be able to stave off a miscarriage. 

If the above symptoms be allowed to proceed, unchecked and 
untended, she will, after a day or two, have a slight show of blood ; 
this show may soon increase to a flooding, which will shortly become 
clotted. Then, perhaps, she begins for the first time to dread a mis- 
carriage. There may at this time be but little pain, and the miscar- 
riage might, with judicious treatment, be even now warded off. At 
all events, if the miscarriage cannot be prevented, the ill effects to her 
constitution may, with care, be palliated, and means may be used to 
prevent a future miscarriage. 

Decided Symptoms r»f a Miscarriage. 

If the miscarriage be still proceeding, a new train of symptoms 
develop themselves ; pains begin to come on, at first slight, irregular, 
and of a ''grinding" nature, but which soon become more severe, 
regular, and "bearing down." Indeed, the case is now a labor in 
miniature; it becomes le commencement de la fin ; the patient is sure 
to miscarry, as the child is now dead, and separated from its connec- 
tion with the mother. 

There are two stages of miscarriage — (i) the separation of the 
ovum from the womb, and (2) the expulsion of the ovum from the 
womb. The former, from the rupture of vessels, is necessarily 
attended with more or less of flooding ; the latter, in addition to 
the flooding, from the contraction of the womb, with more or less 



190 MISCARRrAGE. 

of pain. Now, if there be separation, there must follow expulsion, 
as nature is doing all she can to get rid of the separated ovum, which 
has now become a foreign body ; and if there be expulsion, there 
must, of necessity, be pain, as contraction of the womb invariably 
causes pain ; hence there is, in every miscarriage, more or less of 
flooding and of pain ; indeed, you cannot have a miscarriage without 
both the one and the other. 

A sudden freedom, in a miscarriage, from flooding and from pain, 
often tell of the escape of the ovum from the womb ; although the 
ovum may still be lodging in the vagina — the passage from the womb — 
but from thence it will readily and speedily, of its own accord, come 
away, and therefore there need, on that head, be no apprehension. 

Period of Greatest Danger. 

The most usual time for a lady to miscarry is from the eighth to 
the twelfth week. It is not, of course, confined to this period, as 
during the whole time of pregnancy there is a chance of premature 
expulsion of the contents of the womb, A miscarriage before the 
fourth month is at the time attended with little danger ; although, if 
neglected, it may forever injure the constitution. 

There is, then, in every miscarriage, more or less of flooding, which 
is the most important symptom. After the fourth rnonth it is accom- 
panied with more risk, as the further a lady is advanced in her 
pregnancy, the greater is the danger of increased flooding ; notwith- 
standing, under judicious treatment, there is every chance of her doing 
well. A medical man ought in such a case always to be sent for. 
There is as much care required in a miscarriage as, or more than, in a 
labor. 

If bearing down, expulsive pains — similar to labor pains — should 
accompany the flooding ; if the flooding increase, and if large clots 
come away ; if the breasts become smaller and softer, and if the milk 
Tthere having previously been a little in the bosom) suddenly dry up ; 
if there be coldness and heaviness, and dimunition in the size of the 
belly; if the motion of the child (the patient having quickened) cannot 



MISCARRIAGE. 191 

be felt ; if there be the impression of a heavy mass rolHng about the 
womb, or the falling of the uterine tumor from side to side in the 
abdomen as the patient changes her position, and if there be an 
unpleasant discharge, she may rest assured that the child is dead, and 
that it is separated from all connection with her, and that the mis- 
carriage must proceed, it being only a question of time. Of course, 
in such a case — if she had not already done so— she ought immediately 
to send for a doctor. A miscarriage sometimes begins and ends in a 
few days — five or six ; at other times continues a fortnight, and even 
in some cases three weeks. 

Treatment for Miscarriage. 

If the patient have the slightest ** show," she ought immediately to 
confine herself either to a sofa, or she should keep in bed. A soft 
feather bed must be avoided ; it both enervates the body and pre- 
disposes to a miscarriage. There is nothing better for her to sleep on 
than a horse-hair mattress. She either ought to lie flat upon her back, 
or should he upon her side, as it is quite absurd for her merely to rest 
her legs and feet, as it is the back and the abdomen, not the feet and 
legs, that require rest. 

Sexual intercourse should, in such a ca^e, be carefully avoided ; 
indeed, the patient ought to have a separate bed — this is the most 
important advice, for if it be not followed, the threatened miscarriage 
will be almost sure to be an accomplished fact. Let her put herself 
on low diet, such as arrow-root, tapioca, sago, gruel, chicken-broth, 
tea, toast-and-water, and lemonade ; and whatever she does drink 
ought, during the time of the miscariage, to be cold. Grapes at these 
times are cooling and refreshing. 

The temperature of the bedroom should be kept cool ; and, if it be 
summer, the window ought to be thrown open. Aperient medicines 
must be avoided, and if the flooding be violent, cold water should be 
applied externally to the parts. 

Let us strongly urge upon the patient the vast importance of pre- 
serving any and every substance that might come away, in order that 



192 MISCARRIAGE. 

it may be carefully examined by the medical man. It is utterly impos- 
sible for a doctor to declare positively that a lady has really miscarried, 
and that all has properly come away, if he have not had an opportunity of 
examining the substances for himself How often has a lady declared 
to her medical man that she has miscarried, when she has only parted 
with clots of blood. Clots sometimes put on strange appearances, 
and require a practiced and professional eye to decide at all times upon 
what they really are. 

Utmost Care Required. 

The same care is required after a miscarriage as after a labor ; indeed, 
a patient requires to be treated much in the same manner — that is to 
say, she ought for a few days to keep her bed, and should live npon 
the diet we have recommended after a confinement, avoiding for the 
first few days stimulants of all kinds. Many women date their ill state 
Df health to a neglected miscarriage ; it therefore behooves a lady to 
guard against such a misfortune. 

A patient prone to miscarry ought, before she becomes pregnant 
again, to use every means to brace and strengthen her system. The 
best plan that she can adopt will be to leave her husband for several 
months, and go to some healthy spot ; neither to a fashionable water- 
ing-place, nor to a friend's house where much company is kept, but 
to some quiet country place — if to a healthy farm-house, so much 
the better. 

Early hours are quite indispensable. She ought to be on a horse- 
hair mattress, and should have but scant clothing on the bed. She 
must sleep in a well-ventilated apartment. Her diet should be light 
and nourishing. Gentle exercise ought to be taken, which should 
alternate with frequent rest. 

Cold ablutions ought every morning to be used, and the body 
should be afterwards dried with coarse towels. If it be winter, let 
the water be made tepid, and let its temperature be gradually lowered 
until it be used quite cold. A shower-bath is in these cases service- 
able ; it braces and invigorates the system, and is one of the best 
tonics she can use. 



MISCARRIAGE. 193 

if she be already pregnant it would not be admissible, as the shock 
of the shower-bath would be too great, and may bring on a miscar- 
riage ; but still she ought to continue the cold ablutions. 

A lady who is prone to miscarry ought, as soon as she pregnant, 
to lie down a great part of every day ; she must keep her mind calm 
and unruffled ; she must live on plain diet ; she ought to avoid wine 
and spirits and beer ; she should retire early to rest, and she must 
have a separate sleeping apartment. She ought, as much as possible, 
to abstain from taking opening medicine ; and if she be actually 
obliged to take an aperient — for the bowels must not be allowed to 
be constipated — she should select the mildest, and even of these she 
ought not to take a larger dose than is absolutely necessary, as a free 
action of the bowels is a frequent cause of a miscarriage. 

Importance of Exercise. 

Gentle walking exercise daily is desirable ; long walks and horse 
exercise must be sedulously avoided. A trip to the coast, provided 
the railway journey be not very long, would be likely to prevent a 
miscarriage ; although we w^ould not, on any account, recommend such 
a patient either to bathe in or sail on the water, as the shock of the 
former would be too great, and the motion of the vessel and the sea- 
sickness would be likely to bring on what we are anxious to avoid. 

As the usual period for miscarrying approaches (for it frequently 
comes on at one particular time), let the patient be more than usually 
careful ; let her lie down the greatest part of the day ; let her mind 
be kept calm and unruffled ; let all fashionable society and every 
exciting amusement be eschewed ; let both the sitting and the sleep- 
ing apartments be kept cool and well ventilated ; let the bowels (if 
they be costive) be opened by an enema of warm water (if the exter- 
nal application of castor oil, as a linament, be not sufficient) ; let the 
diet be simple and yet nourishing ; let all stimulants, such as beer, 
wine and spirits, be at this time avoided ; and if there be tlie slightest 
symptoms of an approaching miscarriage, such as pains in thr ^oins, 
in the hips, or in the lower abdomen, let a doctor be sent for. 
13 



CHAPTER XV. 
Lactation, or Nursing. 

Maternal Cares and Duties — Nursing a Pleasure to the True Mother—Nursing 
Natural aud Healthy — Best Food for the Child — Ailments of the Breasts — Milk- 
Fever — Gatherings — Care of the Nipples — Outward Applications — Stated Times 
for Nursing — Danger of Overfeeding — Clothing for the Mother — What the 
Nursing Mother Should Fat — How Food aud Drink Affect the Mother — 
Variety of Diet Recommended — Fits of Depression — Evils of Alcoholic 
Drinks — Benefits of Exercise — An Amiable Temper — Keeping Mind and 
Hands Occupied — Work a Grand Panacea — The Menses During Nursing. 

MATERNAL cares and duties do not cease with labor, with the 
bringing forth of a child. The child must be started right, 
must have a good beginning to its endless career, and the 
mother is needed every moment during the tender years of infancy as 
fv^ell as during the later years of youth and coming maturity. A 
mother ought not, unless she intend to devote herself to her baby, 
to undertake to suckle him. She must make up her mind to forego 
the so-called pleasures of a fashionable life. There ought, in a case of 
this kind, to be no half-and-half measures ; she should either give up 
her helpless babe to the tender mercies of a wet-nurse, or she must 
devote her whole time and energy to his welfare— to the greatest 
treasure that God hath given ner. 

If a mother be blessed with health and strength, and if she have a 
good breast of milk, it is most unnatural and very cruel for her not to 
suckle her child ; on the contrary, it is a great satisfaction, and every 
true mother will so regard it. She will sympathize with these lines 
of the poet Rogers : 

The hour arrives, the moment wished and feared ; 
The child is born, by many a pang endeared ! 
And now the mother's ear has caught his cry — 
Oh I grant the cherub to her asking eye ! 
He comes — she clasps him ; to her bosom pressed 
He drinks the balm of life, and drops to rest 
194 



LACTATION, OR NURSING. 195 

A mother who is able to suckle her child, but who, nevertheless, 
Vi\\ not do so, can have but little love for him ; and as indifTerence 
begets indifference, there will not be much love lost between them ; 
such a mother is not likely to look after her children, but leave them 
to the care of servants. Of such a family it may truly be said : 

" There children dwell who know no parent's care ; 
Parents who know no children's love dwell there.'* 

, If a mother did but know the happiness that suckling her babe 
imparts, she would never for one moment contemplate having a wet- 
nurse to rob her of that happiness. Lamentable, indeed, must it be, if 
any unavoidable obstacles should prevent her from nursing her own 
child. In his own felicitous way, Montgomery says : 

'Tis sweet to view the sinless baby rest, 
To drink its life-spring from her nursing breast ; 
And mark the smiling mother's mantling eyes, 
While hushed beneath the helpless infant lies ; 
How fondly pure that unobtruding prayer, 
Breathed gently o'er the listless sleeper there ! 

Moreover, if a mother does not suckle her child herself, she is very 
likely soon to be in the family -way again : this is an important considera- 
tion, as frequent child-bearing is much more weakening to the constitu- 
tion than is the suckling of children ; indeed, nursing, as a rule, instead 
pf weakening, strengthens the mother's frame exceedingly, and assists 
her muscular development. Those mothers who nurse and cherish 
their offspring are not only more truly mothers, but they have a double 
reward in that, while their children thrive and thus gladden their hearts, 
they themselves are also very materially benefited. No woman is so 
healthy as she who bears healthy children healthily. 

If the young of animals were not suckled by their own mothers, 
what an immense number of them would die ; what an unnatural state 
of things it would be considered And yet it is not at all more 
unnatural than for a healthy woman, with a good breast of milk, not 
to nurse, or only partially to nurse, her own babe. Were the suck- 
ling animal to deny her milk to her offspring, or to feed them with 



196 LACTATION, OR NURSING. 

any other sort of food ; were the feathered tribes to fail in gathering 
the natural food for their young, or to fail in taking it into their own 
stomachs, to adapt it to their digestive powers, and were the insect 
tribes to deposit their eggs in situations where their progeny could not 
find their natural food, or to fail in laying up with their eggs a store of 
nature's food, to be in readiness when they are hatched and brought 
forth ; were the instincts of nature to fail in these things, disease and 
ieath to the whole of these different classes of animals would most 
infallibly ensue ; each individual race would become extinct. 

Nursing Is a Healthy Process. 

A mother should remember, that if she be strong enough to become 
pregnant, to carry her burden for nine months, and at the end of that 
time to bear a child, she, as a rule, is strong enough to nurse a child. 
Suckling is a healthy process, and not a disease, and is, therefore, 
usually most beneficial to health. What, then, must happen if a 
mother does not nurse her infant ? Disease must happen. For by 
so doing she violates the laws and institutions of nature, which cannot 
be done with impunity ; cannot be done without throwing the consti- 
tution into disorder and disease — into disease both general and local — 
swellings, inflammations and suppurations in the breasts, milk-fevers 
and milk-sores. 

Besides, if a mother does not nurse her infant, her constitution is 
either so much injured that she becomes barren, or if this should not 
happen, she becomes pregnant again, and the injurious effects of fre- 
quent child-bearing without nursing are not to be told. The constitu- 
tion may stand it out a while, but at last derangement of constitution 
and disease will come ; premature old age, and premature death. It is 
very cruel and most unnatural for a mother, if she be able, not to nurse 
her own child ; even the brute beasts, vile and vicious though they be, 
suckle their offspring : — ** Even the sea monsters draw out the breast ; 
they give suck to their young ones ; the daughter of my people is 
become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness." So say the 
Scriptures. 




UMBILICAL CORD. 

PLACENTA. 

K-CTITUS AT NINE MONTHS, FULLY DEVELOPED. 



LACTATION, OR NURSING. 197 

Some old nurses recommend a mother to partly nurse and to partly 
feed a new-born babe. Now, this is a mistake ; there is nothing like, 
for the first few months — for the first four or five — bringing up the 
child on the mother's milk, and on the mother's milk alone. After 
the first four or five months, if the mother should not have enough 
milk, then a little artificial food might be given. Ponder well, there- 
fore, before it be too late, on what we have said — health of mother 
and health of babe, human life and human happiness are at stake, and 
depend upon a true decision. 

The Breast and Its Ailments. 

As soon as the patient has recovered from the fatigue of her labor — ■ 
that is to say, in about four or six hours — attention ought, more especially 
in a first confinement, to be paid to breasts. In a first confinement 
there is, until the third day, but very little milk ; although there is 
usually on that day, and for two or three days afterwards, a great deal 
of swelling, of hardness, of distention, and uneasiness of the breasts ; 
in consequence of which, in a first confinement, both care and attention 
are needed. "^ 

Not only so, but there is frequently, at this time, a degree 
of feverishness ; which, in some cases, is rather severe, amount- 
mg even to what is called milk-fever. Now, milk-fever, if circumspec- 
tion and pains be not taken to prevent it, may usher in a bad gathered 
breast. If there be milk in the breasts, which may be readily 
ascertained by squeezing the nipple between the finger and the thumb, 
the infant should at first be applied, not frequently, as some do, but at 
considerable intervals, say until the milk be properly secreted, every 
four hours ; when the milk flows, the child ought to be applied more 
frequently, but still at stated times. 

The child ought never to be allowed to be put to the nipple until it 
be first satisfactorily ascertained that there be really milk in the bosom ; 
neglect of this advice has caused many a gathered breast, and has 
frequently necessitated the weaning of the child. 

To wash away any viscid mucus from the nipple, or any stale 



198 LACTATION, OR NURSING. 

perspiration from the bosom, let the breasts and the nipples, before 
applying the babe, be first sponged with a little warm water, and then 
be dried with a warm, dry, soft napkin ; for some infants are so partic- 
ular, that unless the breasts be perfectly free from stale perspiration, 
and the nipples from dried-up milk, they will not suck. If after the 
above cleansing process there be any difficulty in making him take the 
bosom, smear a little cream on the nipple, and then immediately 
apply him to it. 

If the breasts be full, hard, knotty, and painful, which they generally 
are two or three days after a first confinement, let them be well but 
tenderly rubbed every four hours, either with the best olive oil (a little 
of which should, before using it, be previously warmed, by putting a 
little of the oil, in a tea cup, on the hob by the fire) or with equal 
parts of olive oil and oi eau de Cologne, which should be well shaken 
up in a bottle every time before it is used ; or with what is an old- 
fashioned but an excellent embrocation for the purpose, namely, with 
goose oil, or with camphorated oil. On the third Jay, more especially 
after a first confinement, the breasts are apt to become very much 
swollen, painful and distended. If such be the case^ it might be 
necessary, for a few days, to have them drawn once or twice by a 
breast pump. 

Applications for the Breast. 

If the bosoms be more than usually large and pain/ai, .a addition 
to assiduously using the liniments that the doctor may prescribe, 
apply to the breasts, in the intervals, young cabbage-leaves, which 
should be renewed after each rubbing. Before applying them, the 
" veins " of the leaves should with a sharp knife be cut smooth — level 
with the leaf It will require several, as the whole of the breast ought 
to be covered. The cabbage-leaves will be found both cooling and 
comforting. Each bosom should then, with a soft folded silk hand- 
kerchief, be nicely supported, going under each breast and suspending 
xt ; each handkerchief should then be tied at the back of the neck — 
thus acting as a kind of sling to each bosom. 

The patient ought not, while the breasts are full and uncomfortable. 



LACTATION, OR NURSING. 



199 



9 drink much fluid, as it would only encourage a larger secretion of 
milk. The size of the bosoms under the above management will in 
two or three days decrease, all pain will cease, and the infant will v. with 
ease and comfort take the breast. 

If the breasts are tolerably comfortable (which in the second and in 
succeeding confinements they probably will be), let nothing be done 




MILK-DUCTS IN THE HUMAN MAMMA. 

b them, except as soon as the milk comes, at regular intervals, apply« 
ing the child alternately to each of them. Many a bosom has been 
made uncomfortable, irritable, swollen, and even has sometimes 
gathered, by the nurse's interference and meddling. Meddlesome 
nursing is bad, and we are quite sure that meddlesome breast-tending 
yis equally so. A nurse, in her wisdom, fancies that by rubbing, by 
pressing, by squeezing, by fingering, by liniment, and by drawing, that 



200 LACTATION, OR NURSING. 

she does great good, while in reality, in the majority of cases, by snjcV. 
interference she does great harm. 

Too Much Interference by Nurses. 

The child will, in second and in succeeding confinements, as a rule, 
be the best and the only doctor the bosoms require. We are quite 
convinced, that, in a general way, nurses interfere too much, and tha! 
the bosoms in consequence suffer. It is. of course, the doctor's and 
not the nurse's province, in such matters, to direct the treatment ; 
while it is the nurse's duty to fully carry out the doctor's instructions. 

There is nothing, in our opinion, that more truly tells whether a 
nurse he a good one or otherwise, than by the way she manages the 
breasts. A good nurse is judicious, and obeys the medical man's 
Drder:> to the very letter, while on the other hand, a bad nurse acts on 
her own judgment, and is always quacking, interfering, and fussing 
with the breast, and doing on the sly what she dare not do openly. 
Such conceited, meddlesome nurses are to be studiously avoided ; the} 
often cause, from their meddlesome ways, the breasts to gather. 

Let the above advice be borne in mind, and much trouble, miserj 
and annoyance might be averted. Nature, in the majority of cases 
manages these things much better than any nurse possibly can do 
and does not as a rule, require helping. The breasts are sadly tow 
much interfered and messed with by nurses, and by nurses who arc ii 
other respects tolerably good ones. No ; nature is usually best le.fi 
alone : she works in secret, deftly and well, and resents interference- 
more especially in the cases we have just described. Nature, then, h 
generally best left alone. Nature is God's vicegerent here upon earth 
or, as Chaucer beautifully expresses it — 

** Nature, the vicar of the Almighty Lord, " 

Milk-fcver, or Weed. 
The lying-in patient is liable a few days — generally on the third 
day after her confinement — while the milk is about being secreted— 
to a feverish attack, called milk-fc, cr, or weed, or ephemeral fever, and 



LACl^ATIOJN, OR NURSING. 20i 

ephememl it truly is, as it lasts only twenty-four hours, or at most, 
unless some untoward mischief should intervene, forty-eight hours. 
It comes on Uke an ague fit, having its three stages — -its cold stage, 
Its hot stage and its sweating stage. There is usually accompanying 
it headache, and pains flying about the one or both the breasts, the 
back and the lower part of the belly. 

The weed, on the due secretion of the milk, usually passes off 
leaving no dam.age in its track ; yet, notwithstanding, it sometimes 
does leave injuiy behind, either in the womb or in the breast— causingj 
in some instances, a bad gathered bosom. The weed, therefore, 
requires great care and attention, both from the doctor and from the 
nurse — to ward off such a serious disease as a gathered bosom — as a 
gathering of the deep-seated structure of the breast undoubtedly is. 

Stated Times lor Suckling. 

After the new-born babe is washed, he generally falls asleep, and 
sleeps on, if not disturbed, for several hours. It is not necessary to 
rouse him from his slumber to give him sustenapce — certainly not ; 
the mother's milk is not always ready for him; but as soon as it is he 
instinctively awakes, and becomes importunate, and cries until he is 
able to obtain it. Nature — beneficent nature — if we will but listen to 
her voice, will usually tell us what to do and what not to do. The 
teasing of a mother's breasts by putting the babe to them before there 
be milk, and the stuffing of a new-born infant with artificial food, are 
evils of great magnitude, and cannot be too strongly condemned. 

A mother ought to suckle her babe at stated times. It is a bad 
habit to give him the bosom every time he cries, regardless of thf 
cause ; for be it what it may — overfeeding, griping^ *' wind " or aciditji 
— she is apt to consider the breast a panacea for all his sufferings. A 
mother generally suckles her infant too often — having him almost 
constantly at the bosom. This practice is injuriois both to paren^ 
and to child. For the first month he should be suckled about every 
hour and a half, for the second month every two hours, gradually 
increasing, as he becomes older, the distance of time between, until at 



202 



LACTATION, OR NURSING. 



length he has the breast about every four hours. If he were suckled 
at stated periods, he would only look for it at those times, and be 
satisfied. 

Too Much Nursing. 

A mother frequently allows her babe to be at the bosom a great 
part of every night. Now, this plan is hurtful both to her and to 
him ; it weakens her, and thus enfeebles him ; it robs them both of 
their sleep, and generates bad habits, which it will be difficult to 
break through ; it often gives the mother a sore nipple and the child 
a sore mouth ; it sometimes causes the mother to have a gathered 
oreast, and fills the child with ** wind." 

It is surprising how soon an infant, at a very early age, may, by 

judicious management, be 
brought into good habits; 
it only requires, at first, a 
little determination and per- 
severance A nursincr mo- 
ther, therefore, ought at once 
to commence by giving her 
child the breast at stated 
periods, and should rigidly 
adhere to the times above 
recommended. 

A mother should not, directly after taking a long walk, and while 
her skin is in a state of violent perspiration, give her babe the bosom ; 
the milk, being at that time in a heated state, will disorder her child's 
bowels, or it may originate in him some skin disease, and one which 
;l i night be difficult to cure. She ought, therefore, before she give 
him the breast, to wait until the surface of her body be moderately 
cool, but not cold. Let her be careful the while not to sit in draughts, 
A nursing mother ought to have her dreso, more especially he? 
stays, made loose and comfortable. A gathered breast sometimes 
arises from the bones of the stays pressing into the bosom; we 
should, therefore, recommend her to have the bones removed. 




D D 

SECTION OF HUMAN MAMMA. 
5. S. Sacks, n, D. Ducts. 



LACTATION, OR NURSING. 203 

If a lady be not in the habit of wearing a flannel waistcoat, sh* 
ought at least to have her bosoms covered with flannel, taking care 
that there be a piece of soft linen over the nipples. We should advise 
a nursing mother to provide herself with a waterproof nursing apron, 
which may be procured either at any baby-linen establishment or at 
an india rubber store. 

What the Nursing Mother Should Eat. 

A nursing mother ought to live plainly ; her diet should be both 
light and nourishing. It is a mistaken notion that at these times she 
requires extra good living. She ought never to be forced to eat more 
than her appetite demands ; if she be, either indigestion, or heartburn, 
or sickness, or costiveness, or a bowel-complaint, will ensue. It is a 
folly at any time to force the appetite. If she be not hungry, com- 
pelling her to eat will do her more harm than good. A doctor in 
such a case ought to be consulted. 

The best meats are mutton and beef; veal and pork may, for a 
change, be eaten. Salted meats are hard of digestion ; if boiled beef, 
therefore, be eaten, it ought to be only slightly salted. It is better, 
in winter, to have the boiled beef unsalted ; it is then, especially if it 
be the rump, deliciously tender. Salt, of course, must be eaten with 
the unsalted meat. High-seasoned dishes are injurious ; they inflame 
the blood, and thus they disorder the milk. 

Some persons consider that there is no care required in the selec- 
of the food, and that a nursing mother may eat anything, be it ever 
so gross and unwholesome ; but if we appeal Lo reason and to facts, 
we shall be borne out in saying that great care is required. It is 
well known that cow's milk very much partakes of the properties of 
the food on which the animal lives. Thus, if a cow feed on garlic, 
the milk and the butter will have a flavor of the plant. This, beyond 
a doubt, decides that the milk does partake of the qualities of the 
food on which she feeds. The same reasoning holds good in the 
human species, and proves the absurdity of a nursing mother being 
allowed to eat anything, be it ever so gross, indigestible, or' unwhole- 



204 LACTATION, OR NURSING. 

some. Again, either a dose of purgative medicine given to her, or 
greens taken by her at dinner, will sometimes purge the babe as 
violently, or even more so, than it will the mother herself. 

The Mother's Milk the Best. 

Even the milk of a healthy wet-nurse acts differently^ and less 
beneficially, upon the child than the mother's own milk. The ages 
of the mother and of the wet-nurse, the ages of her own and of the 
latter's infant, the constitution of one and of the other, the adapta- 
bility of a m.other's milk for her own particular child — all tend to 
make a foster-mother not so desirable a nurse as the mother herself. 
Again, a mother cannot at all times get to the antecedents of a wet- 
Aurse ; and if she can, they will not always bear investigation. 

With regard to the ages of the molher and of the wet-nurse— for 
instance, as a wet-nurse's milk is generally a few weeks older than the 
mother's own milk, the wet-nurse's milk may, and frequently does, 
produce costiveness of the bowels of her foster-child ; whilst, on the 
other hand, the mother's own milk, being in age just adapted to her 
babe's, may, and generally does, keep her own infant's bowels regular. 
Ti"c milk, according to the age of the child, alters in properties and 
qualities to suit the age, constitution, and acquirements of her baby— -• 
adapting itself, so to speak, to his progressive development; hence 
the importance of a mother, if possible, suckling her own child. 

A babe who is nursed by a mother who lives grossly is more prone 
to disease, particularly to skin and to inflammatory complaints, and 
to disease which is more difficult to subdue. On the other hand, a 
nursing mother, who, although she lives on nourishing diet, yet 
simply and plainly, has usually the purest, as well as the mos* 
abundant, supply of milk. 

Variety of Diet for the Mother. 

Do not let us be misunderstood. We are not advocating that a 
mother should be fussily particular — by no means. Let her take a 
variety of food, both animal and vegetable ; let her from day to day 




I 



UTERINE SURFACE OF THE PLACENTA (aFTERBIRTH), 



LACTATION, OR NURSING. 205 

vary her diet ; let her ring the changes on boiled and stewed, ok 
grilled and roast meats ; on mutton and lamb and beef; on chicken 
and game and fish ; on vegetables, potatoes and turnips ; green? arjc 
cauliflower ; on asparagus and peas (provided they be yo'^ng and 
well-boiled), and Lima beans. The maxim of the greatest importance 
in reference to the materials of human food is mixture and variety— -3 
maxim founded upon man's omnivorous nature. Animal and vege^ 
Uble substances, soups and solid meat, fish, flesh, and fowl, in com- 
bination or succession, ought to form the dietary of every household 

Common Sense the Best Guide. 

But what we object to a nursing mother taking are : gross meats^ 
such as goose and duck ; highly-salted beef; shellfish, such as lob- 
ster and crab ; rich dishes ; highly-seasoned soup ; pastry, unless it 
be plain ; and cabbages and pickles, if found to disagree with the 
babe, and with any other article of food which is either rich, or gross- 
er indigestible, and which, from experience, she has found to disagree 
either with herself or with her child. It will, therefore, be seen, from 
the above catalogue, that our restrictions as to diet are limited, and 
are, we hope, founded both on reason and on common sense, which 
ought to be the guides and councillors of every nursing mother, and 
of everyone else besides. 

A nursing mother is subject to thirst ; when such be the case, she 

ought not to fly either to beer or to wine to quench it ; this will only 

add fuel to the fire. The best beverages will be either toast and water, 

milk and water, barley-water and new milk fin equal proportion), or 

black tea, either hot or cold ; cold black tea is a good quencher of 

thirst. ' -^ I' 

Mental Depression and How to Treat It. 

A lady who is nursing is at times liable to fits of depression. Let 
us strongly urge the importance of her abstaining from wine and from 
a'l other stimulants as a remedy ; they would only raise for a time her 
spirits, and then would depress them in an increased ratio. Either a 
drive in the country, or a short walk, or a cud of tea, or a chat with a 



206 LACTATION, OR NURSING. 

friend, would be the best medicine. The diet should be good and 
nourishing ; plenty of bread and plenty of meat should be her staple 
food. A lady subject to depression should bear in mind that she 
requires nourishment, not stimulants — that much wine and spirits 
might cheer her for the moment, but will depress her afterwards. 

Mischief-Making Doctors. 

It is necessary to bear the above facts in mind, as there are many 
advocates who strongly recommend, in a case of this kind, a large 
consumption both of wine and of brandy. Such men are, at the 
present moment, doing an immense deal of mischief in the world ; they 
are, in point of fact, inducing and abetting drunkenness ; they are the 
authors of blighted hopes, of blasted prospects, of broken health, and of 
desolated homes. How many a wife owes her love of brandy, and 
her consequent degradation and destruction, to brandy having, for 
some trifling ailment, been at first prescribed for her. We maintain 
that it is highly dangerous to prescribe brandy to any patient, unless 
her case urgently demand it — unless it be, in point of fact, a case of 
life or death. It is emphatically playing with a deadly poison, 
tempting to evil, and courting disease, destruction, and death. 

Spirits — -brandy, rum, gin, and whiskey — are, during suckling, most 
injurious ; we may even say that they are to the parent, and indirectly 
to the child, insidious poisions. When an infant is laboring under an 
inflammatory complaint, a nursing mother ought not to take stimulants, 
such as either ale or wine. In a case of this kind, toast and water 
will, for her dinner, be the best beverage, gruel for her supper, and 
black tea — not coffee, as it would be too stimulating — both for her 
breakfast and tea. 

Fresh Air and Exercise. 

Outdoor exercise during suckling cannot be too strongly insisted 
upon ; it is the finest medicine both for babe and mother. Whenever 
the weather will admit, it must be taken. It is utterly impossible for 
a nursing mother to make good milk unless she do take an abund- 
ance of exercise, and breathe plenty of fresh air. 



LACTATION, OR NURSING. 207 

Whatever improves the health of the mother, of course, at the 
same time benefits the child ; there is nothing more conducive to 
health than an abundance of outdoor exercise. It often happens that 
a mother who is nursing seldom leaves her house ; she is a regular 
fixture, or like a cabbage that vegetates in one spot ; the consequence 
is, both she and her babe are usually delicate and prone to sickness — 
it would, indeed, be strange if they were not. A mother ought not 
immediately after taking exercise to nurse her infant, but should wait 
for half an hour. Nor should she take violent exercise, as it would 
be likely to disorder the milk. 

Carriage exercise, if the weather be hot and sultry, is preferable to 
walking ; if that be not practicable, she ought to have the windows 
thrown wide open, and should walk about the hall, the landings and 
the rooms, as she would, by such means, avoid the intense heat of the 
sun. Although carriage exercise during intensely hot weather is pre- 
ferable to walking exercise, yet, notwithstanding, walking must, during 
some portion of the day, be practiced. There is no substitute, as far 
as health is concerned, for walking. Many ailments that ladies now 
labor under could be walked away, and really it would be a pleasant 
physic — far more agreeable and effectual than either pill or potion. 

An Amiable Temper. 

Passion is injurious to the mother's milk, aud consequently to the 
child. Sudden joy and grief frequently disorder the infant's bowels, 
producing griping, looseness, etc. ; hence, a mother who has a mild, 
placid, even temper generally makes an excellent nurse, on which 
account it is a fortunate circumstance that she is frequently better- 
J:empered during suckling than at any other period of her life ; indeed, 
she usually, at such times, experiences great joy and gladness. The 
happiest period of a woman's existence is, as a rule, when she first 
becomes a mother : '' The pleasure of the young mother in her babe 
is said to be more exauisite than any other earthly bliss." 

It "is an oia, ana, we t)eTieve, a true saying, that the child inherits 
the temper of his mother or of his wet nurse. This may be owing to 



208 LACTATION, OR NURSING. 

the following reasons : If the mother or the nurse be good-tempered 
y\\e milk will be more likely to be wholesome, which will, of course, 
make him more healthy, and consequently better tempered. While, 
on the other hand, if the mother or the nurse be of an irritable, cross 
temper, the milk will suffer, and will thus cause disarrangement to his 
'system ; and hence, ill-health and ill-temper will be likely to ensue. 
We all know the influence that good or bad health has on the temper. 
A.n important reason, then, why a nursing mother is often better tem- 
pered than she is at other times is, she is in better health, her stomach 
is in a healthier state : 

** A good digestion turneth all to health." 
Depend upon it, that after all that can be said on the subject it is a 
good stomach that makes both man and woman strong, and conduces 
so much to longevity ; if the stomach be strong there is a keen appe- 
tite and capital digestion, and in consequence of such a happy combi- 
fiation, good health and long life : 

" Now, good digestion wait on appetite, 
And health on both 1 " 

Inquire of your friends who are octogenarians, and you will almost 
'nvariably find that they have wonderfully strong stomachs, and, con- 
sequently, good appetites and splendid digestions. And if, perchance, 
they have severe illnesses, how surprisingly they pull through them. 

(\ good stomach, then, is much to be coveted, and demands both self- 

lenial and consideration to insure one. 

Dyspepsia and Melancholy. 

Cheerfulness, too, is mainly owing to a good stomach ; a melan- 
•holic person is usually a dyspeptic, while a cheerful person is gener-,' 
«lly blessed with a good digestion ; it is the stomach, then, that has the 
principal making of a cheerful disposition. It is a moral impossibility 
for a dyspeptic to be either thoroughly happy, or contented, or cheer- 
ful ; while a good stomach will fill the possessor's heart with joy, cause 
the face to gleam with gladness, and thus 

" Make sunshine in a shady place." 



LACTATION, OR NURSING. 209 

Hear w^u:t Shakespeare says of the functions of the stomach. The 

stomach is supposed to speak (and does it not frequently speak, and 

n very unmistakable language, if we will but only listen to fts voice?); 

True is it, my incorporate friends, quoth he, 

That I receive the general food at first 

Which you do live upon ; and fit it is ; 

Because I am the storehouse and the shop 

Of the whole body. Buc if you do remembetj 

I send it through the rivers of your blood, 

Even to the court, the heart — to the seat o' the braiii ; 

And through the cranks and offices of man, 

The strongest nerves, and small inferior veins, 

From me receive that natural competency 

Whereby they live : And though that all at once. 

You, my good friends, though all at once cannot 

See what I do deliver out to each ; 

Yet I can make my audit up, that all 

From me do back receive the flower of all. 

And leave me but the bran. 

Occupation Strongly Recommended. 

We strongly recommend a nursing mother to attend to her house- 

hjld duties. She is never so happy, nor so well, as when her mind 

is moderately occupied with something useful. She never looks so 

charming as when she is attending to her household duties. Says 

Milton : 

For nothing lovelier can be found 
In woman, than to study household good. 

We do not mean by occupation the frequenting of balls, of routs, 
jr of parties. A nursing mother has no business to be at such places; 
she ought to devote herself to her infant and to her household, and 
she will then experience the greatest happiness this world can afford. 

One reason why the poor make so much better nursing mothers 
than the rich is, the former having so much occupation, while the 
latter having no real work to do, the health becomes injured, and in 
consequence the functions of the breast suffer ; indeed, many a 
fashionable lady has no milk at all, and is, therefore, compelled to 
delegate to the bottle one of her greatest privileges and enjoyments. 
14 



210 LACTATION, OR NURSING. 

A rich mother, who has no work to do, and who lives sumptuously^ 
has frequently no milk, while the poor mother, who has to labor for 
her daily bread, and who has to live sparingly, has generally an 
abundance of milk. Luxury and disease, toil and health, go generally 
hand in hand together. The healthy breast of milk, then, frequently 
belongs to the poor woman, to the one whom 

" The modest wants of every day 
Tlie toil of every day supplies." 

What would not some rich mother give for the splendid supply of 
milk— of healthy, nourishing, life-giving milk — of the poor woman 
who has to labor for her daily bread. What is the reason that wealthy 
ladies so frequently require wet nurses ? The want of occupation ! and 
from whom do they obtain the supply of wet nurses ? From the 
poor women who have no lack of occupation, as they have to labor 
for their daily food, and have in consequence the riches of health; 
though poor in this world's goods : 

** For health is riches to the poor." 

Bear this in mind, ye wealthy, and indolent, and pampered ladies, 

and alter your plans of life, or take the consequences, and still let the 

poor woman have the healthy, the chubby, the rosy, the laughing 

children ; and you, ye rich ones, have the unhealthy, the skinny, the 

sallow, the dismal little old men and women who are constantly under 

the doctor's care, and who have to struggle for their very existence. 

Employment, which Galen calls '' nature's physician," is so essential to 

human happiness, that indolence is justly considered as the mother 

of miser)^ 

Employment an Excellent Panacea. 

' Occupation, then — bustling occupation — real downright work, 
either in the form of outdoor exercise, or of attending to her house- 
hold duties — a lady, if she desire to have a good breast of milk, must 
take, if in point of fact, she wish to have healthy children. For the 
Almighty is no respector of persons. And he has ordained that 
work shall be the lot of man and of woman, too. It is a blesseo 



LACTATION, OR NURSING. 211 

thing to be obliged to work. If we do not work, we have all to pay 
a heavy penalty in the form of loss of both health and happiness. 
•' For work," says Carlyle, " is the grand cure of all the maladies and 
miseries that ever beset mankind— honest work, which you intend 
getting done." 

A mother who is listless and idle, lolling the greater part of everj 
day in an easy chair, or reclining on a sofa, in a room where a breath 
of air is not allowed to enter, usually makes a miserable and a wretched 
nurse. She is hysterical, nervous, dyspeptic, emaciated, and dispirited, 
iiaving but little milk, and that little of a bad quality ; her babe is 
puny, pallid, and unhealthy, and frequently drops into an untimely 
grave. Occupation, with fresh air and exercise, is indispensable to a 
mother who is suckling. How true it is that 

*' To be employed is to be happy." 
While the converse is equally correct — ^to be idle is to be miserable. 

No wife — more especially no nursing mother — can, then, by an5 
possibility, be strong and well unless she have occupation ; occupation 
is emphatically a necessity. " Nature has made occupation a necessity ' 
society makes it a duty ; habit may make it a pleasure." 

" The Periods " During Suckling. 

If a woman have ''her periods" during suckling, she ought to have 
a separate bed ; otherwise she will, in all probability, conceive, as she 
is more likely to conceive after "her periods" than when she has 
them not. This is important advice, for if it be not attended to, she 
may, in consequence of becoming pregnant, have to wean her child 
before he be old enough to be weaned. Besides, her own constitution 
might, in consequence of her having children too fast, be injured. 

There is a notion abroad, that a mother who has " her periods " 
during suckling has sweeter, and purer, and more nourishing milk for 
her child ; this is a mistaken idea, for really and truly such a mother's 
milk is less sweet, and pure, and nourishing ; and well it might be, for 
the two processes of menstruation and of suckling cannot, without 
ireakening the system, go on together. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Weaning the Child. 

Jeat Time for Weaning — Effects of Prolonged Nursing — The Mother's Health / 
be Considered — Knock-kneed and Rickety Children — Weaning Gradually 
Applications for the Nipples — Aloes and Wormwood — Drying up the Milk- 
Preparations for Reducing Full Breasts — Symptoms Denoting the Necessity oi 
Weaning— Delicate Mothers— Return of the Menses— Wet Nurses— Inflamma- 
tion and How to Treat It — Infectious Diseases — Stimulants to be Avoided. 

rHERE is an old saying, ''that a woman should carry her child 
nine months, and should suckle him nine months." It is well 
known that the first part of the old adage is correct, and experi- 
ence hay proved the latter to be equally so. If a babe be weaned 
before ne be nine months, he loses that muscular strength which the 
breast-milk alone can give ; if he be suckled after he be nine months, 
he becomes pallid, flabby, weak, and delicate. It is generally recog- 
nized that the healthiest children are those weaned at nine months 
complete. Prolonged nursing hurts both child and mother ; in t^^ 
child, causing a tendency to brain disease, probably through disordered 
digestion and nutrition ; in the mother, causing a strong tendency to 
deafness and blindness. It is a very singular fact, to which it is desira- 
ble that attention were paid, that in those districts of Scotland — 
namely, the Highlands and insular — where the mothers suckle their 
infants from fourteen to eighteen months, deaf-dumbness and blind- 
ness prevail to a very much larger extent among the people than in 
districts where nine or ten months is the usual limit of the nursing 
period. 

The Time When an Infant Should be Weaned. 

Thic, of course, must depend upon the strength of the child, and 
upon the health of the mother : nine months on an average being the 
proper time. If she be delicate, it may be found necessary to wean 
him at six months ; or if he be weak, or laboring under any disease, 
it may be well to continue suckling him for twelve months ; but aftef 
212 



WEANING THE CHILD. 



21; 



*:hat time the breast will do him more harm than good, and will, more 
over, injure the mother's health. 

If he be suckled after he be twelve months old, he is generally pale* 
flabby, unhealthy, and rickety ; and the mother is usually nervous, 
emaciated, and hysterical. A child who is suckled beyond the proper 
time, more especially if there be any predisposition, sometimes dies 
either of water on the brain, or of consumption of the lungs, or of 
Jniesenteric disease. 

A child nursed beyond twelve months is very apt, if he should live, 
to be knock-kneed, and bow-legged, and weak-ankled — to be narrow- 
chested and chicken-breasted — to be, in point of fact, a miserable little 
object. All the symptoms just enumerated are those of rickets, and 
rickets are damaging and defacmg to ** the human form devine." 
Rickets are a very common complaint among children— nearly all 
arising from bad management — from hygienic rules not being either 
onderstood or followed. There are many degrees of rickets, ranging 
fi-om bow-legs and knock-knees to a crooked spine — to a humpback 



How a Mother Should \Vean Her Child. 

She must, as the word signifies, do it gradually — that is to saj> , sne 
should by degrees give him less and less of the breast, and more and 
more of artificial food ; she ought at length only to suckle him at 
night, and lastly, it would be Avell for the mother either to send him 
away or to leave him at home, and for a few days go away herself 

A good plan is for the nurse to have in the bed a half-pint bottle of 
new milk, which, to prevent it from turning sour, had been previously 
boiled, so as to give a little to the child in lieu of the breast. The 
warmth of the body will keep the milk of a proper temperature, and 
will supersede the use of lamps, of candle-frames and other trouble- 
some contrivances. If the mother be not able to leave home herself] 
or to send her child from home, she ought then to let him sleep in 
another room, with some responsible person— we say responsible 
person, for a babe must not be left to the tender mercies of a giggling, 
thoughtless, young girl. 



214 WEANING THE CHILD. 

If the mother, during the day-time, cannot resist having her child in 
the room with her, then we should advise her to make a pastry of 
aloes — that is to say, let her mix a little powdered aloes with a few 
drops of water, until it be of the consistence of paste — and let her 
smear a little of it on the nipple every time just before putting him to 
the breast ; this will be quite enough for him, and one or two aloe appli- 
cations to the nipple will make him take a disgust to the bosom ; and 
thus the weaning will be accomplished. A mother need not be afraid 
that the aloes will injure her babe ; the minute quantity he will swal- 
low will do no harm, tor the moment he tastes it, the aloes being 
extremely bitter, he will splutter it out of his mouth. 

Bitter Applications for the Nipple. 

Another application for the nipple to effect weaning is wormwood. 
There are two ways of applying it, either (i) by sprinkling a very 
small pinch of powdered wormwood on the nipple, or (2) by bathing 
the nipple with a small quantity of wormwood tea, just before apply- 
ing the babe to it ; either the one or the other of these plans will make 
. him take a dislike to the breast, and thus the weaning will be accom- 
plished. Wormwood is excessively bitter and disagreeable, and a 
slight quantity of it on the nipple will cause an infant to turn away 
from it with loathing and disgust ; the wormwood, the minute quantity 
he will taste, will not at all injure him. Wormwood was in olden 
time, according to Shakespeare, used for the purpose of weaning : 

And she was weaned, — I never shall forget it — 

Of all the days of the year upon that day : 

For I had then lay wormwood to my dug [nipple], 

Sitting in the sun under the dove-house wall, 

My lord and you were then at Mantua : — 

Nay, I do bear a brain : but, as I said, 

When it did taste the wormwood on the nipple 

Of my dug, and felt it bitter, pretty fool ! 

To see it tetchy, and fall out with the dug. 

The best way of " drying up the milk "is to apply to each breasf 

soap-plaster, spread on soft pieces of wash leather, the shape and size 

of the top of a hat, with a round hole the size of a quarter in the 



WEANING THE CHILD. 



216 



middle of each to admit the nipple, and with a slit from the centre to 
the circumference of each plaster to make a better fit. These plasters 
ought to be spread by a druggist. 

When the child is once weaned, the breasts ought not to be drawn, 
as the drawing of them would cause them to secrete larger quantities 
of milk ; if, therefore, the bosoms be ever so full or uncomfortable, a 
mother ought to leave them alone ; she should wait patiently, and the 
milk will gradually diminish, and will at length disappear. The draw- 
ing of the bosoms during weaning, either by means of a breast-pump, 
or by the mouth, or by other like contrivances, has frequently caused 
gathered breasts. If not drawn they scarcely, if ever, gather. 

A Good Preparation for Full Breasts. 

The above plan of '* drying up the milk " will generally, in five or 
six days, assuage the milk away ; but if, at the end of three days, the 
bosoms still continue full and uncomfortable, the plasters should be 
removed, and the breasts ought, every four hours, to be well but ten- 
derly rubbed with equal parts of olive oil and eau de Cologne ; the 
nurse supporting the bosom, during such friction, with her other hand. 
Let us impress the above important advice on a nursing mother's 
mind ; it might save a great deal of after suffering and misery. 

It might be well to state, that after the child has been weaned the 
milk does not always entirely leave the breasts, not even for weeks, 
and, in some cases, not even for months ; it is not of the slightest 
consequence, and requires no treatment to get rid of it. 

A mother ought, during the period of weaning, to live abstemiously, 
and should drink as little as possible. In many cases it is necessary 
to work off the rnilk — to give every morning, for two or three morn- 
ings, mild aperient medicine, such as either a St. Uitz powder, or a 
teaspoonful of magnesia, or a teaspoonful of Epsom salts in half a 
tumbler of warm water, 

A mother sometimes cannot suckle her child, the attempt bringing 
on a train of symptoms somewhat similar to the following : singing in 
the ears, dimness of sight, aching of the eye-balls, throbbing in the 



216 WEANING THE CHILD. 

head, nervousness, hysterics, tremblings, faintness, loss of appetite and 
of flesh, fluttering and palpitation of the heart, feelings of great ex- 
haustion, indigestion, costiveness, sinking sensations of the stomach, 
pains in the left side, great weakness and dragging pains of the loins, 
which are usually increased whenever the infant is put to the bosom, 
pallor of the countenance, shortness of breath, swelling of the ankles. 

Every mother who is suffering from suckling does not have the 
whole of the above long catalogue of symptoms. But if she have 
three or four of the more serious of them, she ought not to disobey 
the warnings, but should discontinue nursing, although it might be 
necessary, if the babe himself be not old or strong enough to wean, to 
obtain a healthy wet-nurse to take her place. 

Remember, then, that if the above warning symptoms be disre- 
garded, dangerous consequences, both to parent and child, might and 
probably will be the result. It might either throw the mother into a 
consumption, or it might bring on heart disease ; and, in consequence 
of his not being able to obtain sufficient or proper nourishment, it 
might cause the infant to dwindle and pine away, and, eventually, to 
die eithrr of water on the brain or of atrophy. 

Sudden Diminution of Milk. 

If there be, during any period of suckling, a sudden and great 
diminution of milk in the breasts, the chances are that the mother is 
again enceinte ; the child should, if she be pregnant, be either weaned 
or, if he be not old enough to wean, be supplied with a healthy wet- 
nurse. It is most injurious both to parent and to child for a mother, 
when she be pregnant, to continue suckling. 

Soon after nine months' nursing "the monthly periods" generally 
return. This is another warning that the babe ought immediately to 
be weaned, as the milk will lessen both in quantity and in nourish- 
inent, and the child in consequence will become delicate and puny, 
and every day he is suckled will lose, instead of gain, ground. We 
have known many children become, from protracted suckling, smaller 
at twelve months than they were at nine months ; and well they might 



WEANING THE CHILD. 217 

be, as, after nine months, the mother's milk usually does them harm 
instead of doing them good, and thus causes them to dwindle away. 
At another time, although the above train of symptoms does not 
occur, and notwithstanding she may be in perfect health, a mother 
may not be able to suckle her babe. Such an one usually has very 
small breasts^ and but little milk in them, and if she endeavor to nurse 
her child it produces a violent aching of the bosom. Should she dis 
regard these warnings and still persevere, it might and most likely 
will produce inflammation of the breast, which will probably end in a 
gathering. 

Symptoms Denoting the Necessity o*" Weaning, 

When the nipples are, and, notwithstanding judicious treatment, pei- 
sistently for some time continue very sore, it is often an indication that 
a mother ought to wean her babe. Long-continued, obstinate sore 
nipples frequently occur in a delicate woman, and speak in language 
not to be misunderstood, that the child, as far as the mother herself is 
concerned, must be weaned. Of course, if the infant be not old 
enough to wean, a wet-nurse, when practicable, ought to take the 
mother's place. If the above advice were more frequently followed 
than it is, gathered breasts, much suffering, and broken health would 
not so frequently prevail as they do now. 

If a mother be predisposed to consumption ; if she have had spit- 
ting of blood ; if she be subject to violent palpitation of the heart; if 
she be laboring under great debility and extreme delicacy of con- 
stitution ; II she have any of the above complaints or symptoms, shf 
ought not on any account to suckle her child. 

Great care and circum.spection are required in the selection of a wet- 
nurse ; her antecedents should be strictly inquired into ; her own 
health, and that of her babe must be thoroughly investigated ; the 
ages of her own child and that of the foster-babe should be compared, 
as they ought as nearly as possible to be of the same age. 

If a nursing mother should, unfortunately, catch either scarlatina 
or small-pox, or any other infectious disease, the child must, imme- 



'?^» WEANING THE CHILD. 

.iiately, be eitJUer weaned or transferred to a wet-nurse, or the babe 
Aimself will, in all probability, catch the disease, and will very likely 
die. Moreover, the mother's milk, in such a case, is poisoned, and, 
therefore, highly dangerous for a child to suck. We scarcely need 
say, that the babe must instantly be removed altogether away from 
the infected house — small-pox and scarlet-fever both being intensely 
infectious, and the younger the child — if he do take the infection—' 
the greater will be his peril. 

A mother sometimes suckles her child when she is pregnant. This 
is highly improper, as it not only injures her own health, and may 
bring on a miscarriage, but it is also prejudical to her babe, and may 
produce a dehcacy of constitution from which he might never recover ; 
indeed, it may truly be said, that an infant so circumstanced is always 
delicate and unhealthy, and ready, like blighted fruit, to dwindle and 
die away. 

A mother when she is weaning her child should live very abstemi- 
ously ; she should avoid highly-spiced and rich dishes, and stimulants 
of all kinds ; she should drink very little fluid ; she should, as much 
as possible, be out of sight and hearing of her babe ; she should rub 
her breasts three times a day with warm camphorated oil. Once hav- 
ing weaned her child, she should not again put him to the bosom. 
If she should be so imprudent, she may not only disorder her child 
and bring on bowel complaint, but she may cause her own breasts to 
inflame and her nipples to be sore. The less the breasts are meddled 
with the better, except it be the rubbing of them with warm campho- 
rated oil, or, as before recommended, the appHcation of soap-plaster 
spread r^ ^ash-leather to each bo^om. 



CHAPTER XVII. 
Ailments of the Mamm^, or Breasts. 

Small Nipples — Bad Kff<£Cts of Pressure on the Breasts — Nipple-Shields, and How 
to Use Them — Best Applications — Cracked Nipples — Poor Supply of Milk — 
Applying Friction to the Breasts — Gatherings, and How Treated — Correct 
Position in Nursing — Sources of Inflammation — Sucking an Empty Breast — 
Permanent Injuries — Shivering Fits — Fainting Spells — Mother Not Strong 
Bnoxigh for the Child — Aperients During Nursing — Virtues of Brown Bread- 
Practice of Bating Honey and X-'ruit Jams— Use of Tea and Coffee — Evils of 
Constantly Dosing with Medicine. 

A GOOD nipple is important both to the comfort of the mother 
and to the well-doing of the child. One, among many, of the 
ill effects of stays and of corsets is the pushing-in of the 
nipples ; sore nipples and consequent suffering are the result. More- 
over, a mother thus circumstanced may be quite unable to suckle her 
infant, and then she will be severely punished for her ignorance and 
folly ; she will be compelled to forego the pleasure of nursing her 
own children. Ladies who never wear stays have much better 
nipples, and more fully-developed bosoms ; hence such mothers are 
more likely to make better nurses to their babes. There is no doubt 
that the pressure of the stays on the bosom tends both to waste away 
the gland of the breast (where the milk is secreted), and to cause the 
nipple either to dwindle or to be pushed in, and thus to sadly inter- 
fere with its functions. We would strongly advise every mother who 
has daughters old enough to profit by it, to bear this fact in mind, and 
thus to prevent mischief when mischief might be prevented, by not 
allowing them, when young, to wear corsets. 

Treatment of Very Small and Drawn-in Nipples. 

The babe ought to nurse through some good nipple-shield, 
approved by your doctor. We have known many mothers able to ' 
suckle their children with this invention, who otherwise would have 
been obliged either to have weaned them, or to have procured the 

219 



220 AUGMENTS OF THE BREASTS. 

assistance of ? \vet-nursc. The above aid, in the generaHty of 
instances, will enable the infant to suck with ease. After this has for 
a time been used, the nipples will be so improved as to render the 
continuance of it unnecessary. Of course, we do not advise the use 
of the nipple-shield until a fair trial has been given by applying the 
babe at once to the nipple; but if he cannot draw out the nipple, then 
it ought, by all means, to be tried. Remember, as soon as the nipple 
be sufficiently drawn out, which, in all probability, it will be in a few 
days, the nipple-shield should be dispensed with. 

If a lady, during the latter few months of her pregnancy, were to 
adopt " fneans to harden the nipples," sore nipples during the period 
of suckling would not be so prevalent as they now are. A sore 
nipple is frequently produced by the injudicious custom of allov/ing 
the child to have the nipple almost constantly in his mouth. " Stated 
periods for suckling," as recommended in a previous paragraph, ought 
to be strictly adopted. Another frequent cause of a sore nipple is 
from the babe having the thrush. It is a folly to attempt to cure the 
nipple, without at the same time curing the mouth of the infant. 

An Excellent Remedy. 

A good application is a liniment composed of equal parts of glycer- 
ine and of brandy (say a vial containing two drachms of each), which 
must be shaken up just before using. It should, by means of a camel's- 
hair brush, every time directly after the babe has been suckled, be 
painted on the nipple. A piece of cither old soft cambric or lawn, 
about the sizt: of the palm of the iiand, snipped around to make it fit, 
ought then to be moistened in the glycerine and brandy, and should, 
whenever the child is not at the breast, be applied to each of the sore 
nipples, and worn until they are cured. These applications will be 
found of much service and of great comfort, and will act as nipple- 
shields — protecting and healing the nipples. A soft sponge cf warm 
water should be gently applied to the nipples just before putting the 
child to the breast. 

Sometimes the pure glycerine, without the brandy, painted on the 




AILMENTS OF THE BREASTS. 221 

sore nipple does the most good; if, therefore, the glycerine and brandy 
does not succeed, the pure glycerine should be tried. There is noth- 
ing in the pure glycerine injurious to the child; it therefore need not, 
before applying the child to the breast, be wiped off. 

Cracked and Fissured Nipples. 

Sometimes the nipple is sore from having either cracks or fissures 
upon it. These cracks or fissures may attack any part of the nipple, 
Dut are very apt to form where the nipple joins the breast; and, when 
very severe, an ignorant nurse, who is always fond of dealing in the 
marvellous, declares that the child has nearly bitten the nipple off. 
Now, the best remedy for a cracked and fissured nipple is, for the 
infant, until the cracks and fissures are cured, to suck through the 
intervention of a nipple-shield; and every time, directly after the babe 
has been put to the nipple, to apply to the parts affected either neat 
brandy, or the glycerine and brandy liniment, or the pure glycerine. 

Another cause of a sore nipple is from the mother, after the babe 
has been sucking, putting up the nipple wet. She, therefore, ought 
always to dry the nipple — not by rubbing it, but by dabbing it with 
either a soft cambric or lawn handkerchief, or with a piece of soft 
linen rag (one or other of which ought always to be at hand), every 
time directly after the infant has done sucking, and just before apply- 
ing the liniment to the nipple. 

Loss of Milk. 

A nursing mother is sometimes annoyed by the milk flowing con- 
stantly away, making her wet and uncomfortable. All she can do 
under such circumstances is to wear nipple-shields, and to apply a 
piece of flannel to the bosom, which will prevent the milk from chilling 
her, and will thus do away with the danger of her catching cold, etc. 

A mother ought, before applying the infant to the bosom, to care- 
fully ascertain if there be milk. This may readily be done by squeez- 
ing the nipple between the finger and the thumb. If there be no 
milk, she must wait until the milk be secreted, or serious consc- 



222 AILMENTS OF THE BREASTS. 

quences both to her and to the infant might ensue ; to the former, 
inflammation and gathering of the bosom and sore nipples ; to the 
latter, thrush, diarrhoea and eruptions on the skin. 

If there be a supply of milk in the breasts, and if still the child 
will not suck, the doctor's attention ought to be drawn to the fact, in 
order that he may ascertain whether the babe be tongue-tied ; if he 
:^e. the mystery is explained, and a trifling, painless operation will soon 
make all right. 

If the breasts be fuU and uneasy, they ought, three or four times a 
day, to be well, although tenderly, rubbed with olive oil and eau de 
Cologne (equal parts of each mixed in a vial). Some nurses rub with 
their fingers only. Now such rubbing does harm. The proper way 
to apply friction is to pour a small quantity of the oil and eau de 
Cologne — first shaking the bottle — into the palm of the hand, the 
hand i^ing warm, and then to well rub the breasts, taking care to 
use the whole of the inside of the hand. After the breasts have been 
well rubbed, each ought to be nicely supported with a large, soft, 
folded silk handkerchief; each handkerchief must pass under each 
breast and over the shoulders, and should be tied at the back of the 
neck, thus acting as a sling. 

Gathered Breast. 

A healthy woman with a well-developed breast and a good nipple 
scarcely, if ever, has a gathered bosom ; it is the delicate, the ill^ 
developed breasted and worse-developed nippled woman that usually 
suffers from this painful complaint. And why ? The evil can 
generally be traced to girlhood. If she be allowed to be brought up 
luxuriously, her health and her breasts are sure to be weakened, and 
thus to suffer — more especially when the bosoms' and the nipples' 
development are arrested and interfered with by tight stays and 
corsets. The nipple is by them drawn in, and retained on a level 
with the breast — countersunk, as it were — as though it were of no con- 
sequence to her future well-being, as though it were a thing of nought 

Tight lacers will have to pay the penalties they little dream of. 



AILMENTS OF THE BREASTS. 223 

Oh, the monstrous folly of such proceedings ! When will mothers 
awake from their lethargy ? It is high time that they did so. Many 
a home, from the mother having ** no nipple "-—the effects of tight 
lacing—has been made childless, from the babe not being able to 
procure its proper nourishment, and dying in consequence. It is a 
frightful state of things. But fashion, unfortunately, blinds the eyes and 
deafens the ears of its votaries. 

A gathered or " bad breast,'' as it is sometimes called, is more likely 
to occur after a first confinement and during the first month. Great 
care, therefore, ought to be taken to avoid such a misfortune. A 
gathered breast is frequently owing to the carelessness of a mother ifl 
not covering her bosom during the time she is suckling. Too much 
attention cannot be paid to keeping the breast comfortably warm. 
This, during the act of nursing, should be done by throwing either a 
shawl or a square of flannel over the neck, shoulders and bosom. 

Wrong Position in Nursing. 

Another cause of gathered breasts arises from a mother sitting up 
in bed to suckle her babe. He ought to be accoustomed to take the 
breast while she is lying down ; if this habit be not at first instituted, 
it will be difficult to adopt it afterwards. Good habits may, from 
earliest babyhood, be taught a child. 

A sore nipple is another fruitful cause of a gathered breast. A 
mother, in consequence of the suffering it produces, dreads putting the 
babe to it ; she therefore keeps him almost entirely to the other breast. 
The result is, the breast with the sore nipple becomes distended with 
milk, which, being unrelieved, ends in inflammation, and subsequently 
in gathering. 

Another cause, as before indicated, of a gathered breast is a mother 
not having a properly-developed nipple— the nipple being so small 
that the child is not able to take hole of it; indeed, the nipple ts 
sometimes level with the other part of the bosom, and in some 
instances sunk even below the level of the breast, the patient having 
what is popularly called "no nipple "-—that is to say, she having no 



224 AILMENTS OF THE BREASTS. 

properly-developed nipple — a nipple not of the least use for any 
practical purpose whatever, but rather a source of pain and annoy- 
ance. The nipple, in some cases, never has developed; it is, from' 
infancy to wifehood, at a perfect standstill. 

How Inflammation is Produced. 

With such a patient, when she becomes a mother, it is quite im- 
possible that she can suckle her child. The child, in such a case, 
vainly attempts to suck, and the milk, in consequence, becomes 
"wedged," as the old nurses call it, and inflammation ending in 
gathering is the result, and to crown all, the child is obliged to be 
weaned, which is a sad misfortune. But really, in a case of this kind, 
the child ought never to have been put to the breast at all. 

The fruitless attempt of an infant to procure milk when there is 
Ettle or none secreted, is another and frequent cause of a gathered 
^osom. Dr. Ballard, in his valuable little work, before quoted, con- 
siders this to be the principal cause of a gathered breast ; and, as the 
subject is of immense importance, we cannot do better than give it in 
his own words, more especially as he has the merit of originating and 
of bringing the subject prominently before his professional brethren. 

He says: "This (mammary abscess or gathered breast) is another 
form of disease entirely referable to the cause under consideration 
[fruitless sucking] . In the case last related, the formation of mam- 
mary abscess [gathered breast] was only just prevented by arresting 
any further irritation of the breast by suckling ; and since I have kept 
careful notes of my cases, I have observed that in all instances of 
abscess there has been abundant evidence of a demand being made 
upon the gland for a supply of milk beyond that which it had the 
power of secreting. 

Breast-Pumps and Exhausting-Bottles. 

** If the child only has been kept to the breast, then it has suffered 
with disordered bowels ; but in the majority of cases an additional 
irritation has been applied; the commonly-received doctrine., that a 



AILMENTS OF THE BREASTS. ^25 

turgid breast is necessarily overloaded with milk, leads mv^thers and 
nurses to the use of breast-pumps, exhausting-bottles, or even the 
application of the powerful sucking powers of the nurse herself, to 
relieve the breasts of their supposed excess ; and it is this extraordi- 
nary irritation which, in the majority of cases, determines the forma- 
tion of an abscess [gathering] . 

''Sometimes these measures are adopted to remove the milk when a 
woman is not going to suckle, and then an abscess not unfrequently 
is established. I have previously alluded to the mistake into which 
mothers and nurses are led by the appearance of a swollen breast : it 
is not evidence that the gland can secrete freely, and it is in this turgid 
state that the excessive irritation tells most severely. This hyperaemic 
[plethoric] condition seems to be a step towards inflammation, and the 
irritation supplies that which is wanting to complete the process. If 
a woman will only remove the child from the breast directly the act 
of sucking produces pain, she may be pretty sure to avoid abscess. 
So long as the milk can be obtained there is no pain." The above 
most valuable advice deserves great attention, and ought to be strictly 
followed. 

Twr Forms of Gathered Breast. 

How is a patient to know that she is about to have a gathered 
bosom ? There are two forms of gathered breast ; one being of vast, 
and the other of trifling importance. The first, the serious one, con- 
sists of gathering of the structure of tiie gland of the breast itself; 
the latter, merely of the superficial part of the bosom, and ought to 
be treated in the same manner as any other external gathering. 

In the mild or superficial kind of gathered bosom, the mother may 
still persevere in suckling her child, as the secreting portion of the 
breast is not at all implicated in the gathering ; but in the severe form, 
she ought not, on any account whatever, to be allowed to do so, but 
should instantly wean her child from the affected side. The healthy 
breast she may still continue to nurse from. 

The important form of a gathered breast we will now describe: 
^ sever^^ gathered bosom is always ushered in with a shivering fit ; 
15 



226 AILMENTS OF THE BREASTS. 

the moi ^ severe the gathering the longer is the shivering fit. Let this 
fact be impressed deeply upon our reader's mind, as it admits of no 
exception. This shivering is either accompanied or followed by sharp 
lancinating pains of the bosom. The breast now greatly enlarges^ 
becomes hot, and is very painful. The milk in the affected bosom 
either lessens or entirely disappears. If the child be applied to the 
breast (which he ought not to be), it gives the mother intense pain. 
She is now feverish and ill ; she is hot one minute, and cold the next 
— feeling as though coM water were circulating with the blood in her 
veins ; she loses her strength and appetite, and is very thirsty ; she 
feels, in point of fact, downright ilL 

A Grave Symptom. 

A doctor must, at the very onset of the shivering fit, be sent for; 
and he will, in the generality of instances, be able to prevent such a 
painful and distressing occurrence as a gathered breast. If twelve 
hours be allowed to elapse after the shivering has taken place, the 
chances are that the gathering cannot altogether be prevented, 
although, even then, it may, by judicious treatment, be materially 
lessened and ameliorated. 

We sometimes hear o^ a poor woman suffering dreadfully for 
months, and of her having a dozen or twenty holes in her bosom. 
This is generally owing to the doctor not having been sent for imme- 
diately after the shivering ; we, therefore, cannot too strongly insist, 
under the circumstances, upon a mother obtaining prompt assistance, 
not only to obviate present suffering, but, at the same time^ to pre- 
vent the function of the breast from being injured, which it inevitably, 
more or less, will be if the important form of gathering be allowed to 

take place. 

Permanent Injuries. 

When once a lady has had the severe form of gathered breast she 
ought, in all subsequent confinements, to obtain, before suckling her 
babe, the express permission of the doctor to do so, or the nursing 
mother may have a return of the gathered breast, and the concoJ>J^ 



AILMENTS OF THE BREASTS. 227 

tant pain, misery, and annoyance. The reason of the above is obvious : 
the function of the breast, in a severe gathering, might be irreparably 
injured ; so that, in all subsequent confinements, the very attempt of 
suckling again may, instead of inducing secretion of milk, set up 
inflammatory action, terminating in gathering of the breast. 

Although it is not always prudent to suckle a babe where, in a 
previous labor, there had been a severe form of gathered breast, yet 
we have known instances where ladies have been able, after such 
gathering in a previous confinement, to nurse their children with com- 
fort to themselves and with benefit to their children. Each individual 
case, therefore, must be judged on its own merits by a medical prac- 
titioner skilled in such matters. 

Treatment for Exhaustion. 

When a nursing mother feels faint, she ought immediately to lie 
down and take a little nourishment— either a crust of bread and some 
light stimulant, or a cup of tea with the yolk of an egg beaten up in 
it, either of which will answer the purpose extremely well. Brandy, 
or any other spirit, we would not recommend, as it will only cause, 
as soon as the immediate effects or the brandy are gone off, a greater 
depression to ensue ; not only so, but the frequent taking of brandy 
might become a habit — a necessity — which would be a calamity 
deeply to be deplored. 

A mother is sometimes faint from suckling her child too often, she 
having him almost constantly at the bosom. She must, of coursq 
expect, as long as she continues this foolish practice, to suffer from 
faintness. A nursing mother feeling faint is often an indication that 
the child is robbing her of her strength, and tells her, in unmistak- 
able language, that she must give him, in addition to the breast milk, 
artificial food ; or, if, notwithstanding the food, the faintness still con- 
tinue, that she must wean him altogether. Warnings of faintness. 
during suckling, then, are not to be disregarded. 

Strong purgatives during this period are highl}^ improper, as they 
are c-pt to give pain to the infant, as well as to injure the niother, /ui 



228 AILMENTS OF THE BREASTS. 

enema, either of warm water alone, or of gruel, oil and table salt, 
applied by means of a good self-injecting enema apparatus, is, in such 
a case, an excellent — indeed, the very best — method of opening the 
bowels, as it neither interferes with the digestion of the mother nor of 
the child. 

The less opening medicine. — whatever be the kind — a mother who 
is suckling takes, the better will it be both for herself and for her 
infant. Even castor oil, the least objectionable of aperients, should 
not be taken regularly during suckling ; if it be, the bowels will not 
be moved without it, and a wretched state of things will be established. 
No ; if the bowels will not act, an enema is by far the best remedy ; 
you can never do any harm, either to the mother or to the babe, by 
the administration of an injection ; it will neither induce future consti- 
pation, nor will it interfere with the digestion of the mother, nor with 
the bowels, nor with the health of the infant. 

Virtue in Brown Bread. 

When a lady who is nursing is habitually costive, she ought to ea. 
brown instead of white bread. This will, in the majority of cases, 
enable her to do without an aperient. The brown bread may be 
made with flour finely ground all one way ; or by mixing one part of 
bran and three parts of fine wheaten flour together, and then making 
it in the usual way into bread. Molasses insteavi of butter on the 
brown bread increases its efficacy as an aperient, and raw should be 
substituted for lump sugar in her tea. 

Either stewed prunes, or stewed French plums, is an excellent 
remedy to prevent constipation. The patient ought co eat, every 
morning, a dozen or fifteen of them. The best way to stew either 
orunes or French plums is the following : Put a pound either of 
prunes or of French plums, and two tablespoonfuls of raw sugar, into 
a brown jar, cover them with water, put them into a slow oven, and 
stew them for three or four hours. Both stewed rhubarb and stewed 
pears often act as mild and gentle aperients. Muscatel raisins, eaten 
at dessert, will oftentimes, without m(*dicine, relieve the bowels. 




ilGESTIVE TRACT, SHOWING THE SMALL INTESTINES. 



AILMENTS Or THE BREASTS. 229 

In many cases honey — ^pure honey— is most welcome and beneficial 
to the human economy. It is recommended to be occasionally eaten 
in lieu of butter for breakfast. Butter, in some localities, and in some 
seasons of the year, is far from good and wholesome. One of the 
qualities of honey is, it frequently acts as an aperient. 

A Corrective Diet. 

The Germans are in the habit of eating for breakfast and for tea a 
variety of fruit jams instead of butter with their bread. Now, if the 
bowels be costive, jam. is an excellent substitute for butter ; and so is 
honey. The Scotch, too, scarcely ever sit down either to breakfast or 
to tea without there being a pot of marmalade on the table Ameri- 
can ladies, in this matter, may well take a leaf out of the books of the 
Germans and of the Scotch. 

A tumblerful of cold spring water, taken early every morning, 
sometimes effectually relieves the bowels ; indeed, few people know 
the value of cold water as an aperient — it is one of the best we pos- 
sess, and, unlike drug aperients, can never by any possibility do harm. 
We beg to call a mother's especial attention to the fact of water being 
an admirable aperient for children ; for if our views in the matter be, 
to the very letter, carried out, much drugging of children may be 
saved — to their enduring and inestimable benefit. But the misfortune 
of it is, some mothers are so very fond of quacking their children, 
that they are never happy but when they are physicking them. The 
^hildren of such mothers are deeply to be pitied. 

Effects of Tea and Coffee. 

Coffee ought to be substituted for tea for breakfast, as coffee 
frequently acts as an aperient, more especially if the coffee be sweetened 
with brown sugar. We would strongly recommend a patient to eat 
a great variety of food, and to let the vegetable element predominatCc 
Much meat encourages constipation. Fruit — Muscatel raisins espe- 
cially — farinaceous food, coffee, and a Va.^\c\:y oi vegetaoles, each and 
ail incite the bowels to do their duty. 



230 AILMENTS OF THE BREASTS. 

Although a nursing mother ought, more especially if she be costive, 
to take a variety of well-cooked vegetables, such as potatoes, aspara- 
gus, cauliflower, French beans, spinach, stewed celery and turnips, 
she should avoid eating cabbages and pickles, as they would be likely 
to affect the babe, and might cause him to suffer from gripings, from 
pain, and " looseness" of the bowels. 

The " wet compress " is an excellent method of opening the bowels. 
The way of applying it is as follows : Fold a large napkin a few thick- 
nesses until it is about half a foot square ; then dip it in cold water 
and place it over the bowels, over which apply either oil-skin or 
rubber cloth, which should be, in order to exclude the air, considerably 
larger than the folded napkin. It should be kept in its place by means 
of either a bolster case or a broad bandage ; and must be applied Li 
bed-time, and ought to remain on for three or four hours, or until the 
bowels be opened. 

Avoid Constant Doses of Medicine. 

Let us again-=— for it cannot be too urgently insisted upon — strongly 
advise a nursing mother to use every means in the way of diet, etc., 
to supersede the necessity of taking opening medicine, as the repetition 
of aperients injures, and that severely, both herself and child. More- 
over, the more opening medicine she swallows, the more she requires ; 
so that if she once get into the habit of regularly taking aperients, the 
bowels will not act without them. What r .niserable existence to be 
always swallowing physic. 

If a lad}>, then, during the period of suckling, were to take system- 
atic exercise in the open air ; to bustle about the house and to attend 
to her household duties ; if she were to drink, the moment she awakes 
in the morning, a tumblerful of cold water ; if she were to substitute 
brown bread for white bread, and coffee for tea at breakfast, and 
brown for white sugar ; if she were to vary her food, both animal and 
vegetable, and to partake plentifully of some ripe fruit ; if she were to 
use an abundance of cold water to her skin ; if she were occasionally, 
at bed-time, to apply a *' wet compress " to her bowels, and to visit 



AIIJVIENTS OF THE BREASTS. 



231 



die water-closet daily at one hour ; if she were — even if the bowels 
vere not opened for four or five days — not to take an aperient of any 
kind whatever, and avoid quacking herself with physic ; in short, if 
she would adopt the above safe and simple remedies — many of them 
beinsf nature's remedies, and which are in the reach of all — she would 

o 

not suffer, as she now does, as much from costiveness, which is fre= 
quently the bane, the misery, and the curse of her existence. 

But then, to get the bowels into a proper and healthy state, it 
would take both time and trouble ; and how readily can a couple ot 
pills be swallowed, and how quickly they act ; but how soon they 
have to be repeated ! until at length the bowels will not act at all 
unless goaded into action. The constant swallowing of opening pills, 
then, makes the bowels stubborn and sluggish, and wounds them 
unmercifully. The bowels, at length, will not, without the pills, move 
at all, and so the pills become a dire, and sometimes even a daily, 
necessity. Oh, the folly and the mischief of such a system ! 



CHAPTER XVIII. 
Diseases Peculiar to Women. 

CiilcrosiSj or G* :ii Sickness — Symptoms and Treatment — Suppression of tlit' 
Menses— .omoting the General Health -Fresh Air and Exercise — Pleasant 
Recreation — Profuse Menstruation — Causes and Treatment — Proper Diet — Best 
Tonics — Leucorrhcea, or Whites — Indications of Inflammation — Baths and 
Injections — Location of the Disease — Falling of the Womb — How Caused — 
Remedies — Change of Life — Peculiarities of the Transition — Inflammation of 
the Breasts — Remedies to be Employed — Heartburn, Etc. — Constipation of 
Pregnancy — Toothache During Pregnane)^ — Varicose Veins — Urinary DiflScul- 
ties — Secretion of Milk — Milk Fever — Puerperal Fever. 

CHLOROSIS, or green sickness, is a disease which occurs exclu- 
sively among females, chietiy between the ages of thirteen and 
twenty-four, seldom at a later period ; if it does, it can be 
hac-=^d tc s-^condary disturbances, such as confinements of young 
women, coming rapidly one after another, more especially if the 
women nurse their own children. 

The disease sometimes breaks out previous to the first appearance 
of the menses, more frequently after several menstrual periods ; as an 
entirely primary disease, it only breaks out among unmarried women. 
It is, in some degree, hereditary ; females ot' a pale complexion are 
more liable to be attacked with it ; though no constitution is exempt 
from the disease, although delicate individuals with irritable nerves are 
more susceptible to it. Among other causes, we may mention : 
insufficient exercise, mental exertions, without corresponding muscular 
activity ; excitement of the fancy, especially when caused by novel 
reading ; excitement of the sexual instinct by onanism, improper con- 
verse with the other sex ; deprivation of the open air, and interference 
with the free expansion of the chest by tight dresses. Chlorosis is 
very commonly met with among daughters of a tuberculous or con- 
sumptive mother. 

This disease generally comes on very slowly, the patients becom 
more irritable, they are apt to get tired after every little effort, the 
232 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 



233 



are liable to changes of color, the skin soon loses its bright lustre, and 
the patient complains of feeling chilly at an early period of the dis- 
ease. Inasmuch as the disease may be characterized by a variety of 
symptoms, we will describe the derangements as they appear in each 
special organ and system. 

External and Internal Symptoms. 

The skin at times has the color of wax ; at other times it is rathet 
yellowish, or of a dingy white, the veins being either not at all per- 
ceptible, or but indistinctly so ; the color of the cheeks may change 
quite often, within a very brief period of time. The visible mucous 
membranes are more or less without color. Swelling of the feet and 
limbs sometimes occur, but only in the highest grades of the disease. 

The following symptoms occur in the digestive range : impaired 
appetite, aversion to meat, longing for strange articles of diet, such as 
vinegar, chalk, coffee, beans ; bloating of the stomach after every 
meal, sourness of the stomach, and generally the bowels are very 
torpid. 

In the nervous system we discover excessive irritability, neuralgia, 
hysteric symptoms, fitful mood. The breathing is accelerated, the 
least physical exertion causes dyspnoea (shortness of breath), some- 
times to a very high degree. The circulation is accelerated, very 
seldom retarded ; disposition to palpitations of the heart, which are 
easily excited by a physical effort. The menses are irregular, some- 
times entirely suppressed, or very tardy, sometimes more profuse than 
usual, but always of a lighter color, or even quite colorless. 

Heart W^eakness and Palpitation. 

Accompanying these symptoms are pains of the most diversified 
kind, very generally uterine catarrh. The urine has a strikingly pale 
color. The patients generally sleep very soundly, and have to sleep 
a long time, though sleep never refreshes them. 

One or the other of these derangements is generally wanting. The 
T^ne characteristic symptom is never absent : dyspnoea and palpitation 



234 DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 

of the heart from the least unusual effort, especially after going up 
stairs. 

The course of chlorosis is always more or less protracted, some- 
times very chronic. If no particular disturbances take place, the 
affection can sometimes be cured in a few weeks ; whereas, if the 
mode of living which had acted as the exciting cause is persevered 
in, the trouble may continue for years. The disease is most com 
monly more violent in summer than in the winter season. Uncom 
plicated chlorosis always terminates in recovery. 

Among the complications, the simultaneous presence of consumption 
and scrofula are most threatening. We generally find that scrofulous 
girls who are attacked with chlorosis recover their health to some 
extent for a year or two, after which they die of consumption, or 
phthisis may set in as a direct development of a protracted chlorosis. 

Treatment Recommended. 

The leading remedies which have been found most useful in this 
affection are Pulsatilla, Sepia, Bryonia, Sulphur, Calcarea carb., 
Ferrum, Lycopodium, and Plumbum. 

Pulsatilla is peculiarly useful in chlorosis, when the derangement 
seems to have been excited by^ or is connected with, indigestion ; and 
it is accompanied with headache, particularly in the side of the head, 
with shooting pains extending to the head and teeth, sometimes shift- 
ing suddenly to the other side ; sallow complexion, difficulty of 
breathing, and sense of suffocation after the slightest movement; 
palpitation of the heart, coldness of the hands and feet, often changing 
to sudden heat ; disposition to diarrhoea and leucorrhoea, pains in the 
loins, sensation of weight in the abdomen, almost constant chilliness 
and shivering, spasms in the stomach, with nausea; inclination to 
vomit, and vomiting; hunger, with repugnance to food; swelling of. 
the feet and ankles, great fatigue, especially in the legs. This medicine 
is particularly adapted to females of mild disposition, disposed to be 
sad and tearful. Dose : Six pills every evening. 

Sepia is a remedy of very great value in this disease when there is 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEIN. 



235 



g, good deal of headache ; sallow complexion, with dark colored spots ; 
frequent colic and pain, as if arising from bruises in the limbs, with a 
drawing, tearing pain in the thick muscles of the back part of the 
legs. It may follow Pulsatilla, with great advantage, or be given in 
alternation with that remedy. Dose: Six pills or a powder ever}^ 
morning. 

Bryonia. Frequent congestion of the head and chest, bleeding at 
the nose, dr}^ cough, coldness and frequent shivering, sometimes 
alternating with dry and burning heat, constipation or colic, bitter 
taste in the mouth, tongue coated yellow, sense of pressure in the 
stomach, as if from a stone. 

Sulphur is more particulary indicated when there is pressive and 
tensive pain in the back of the head, extending to the nape of the 
neck ; humming in the head, pimples on the forehead and round the 
mouth ; pale and sickly complexion, with red spots on the cheeks ; 
changeable appetite, with general emaciation : heaviness in the stomach, 
under the lower ribs and in the abdomen ; bowels irregular, great 
tendency to take cold, irritability and inclination to be angry, redness 
and melancholy, with frequent weeping. Dose: Six pills every other 
day. 

Calcarea Carb. is often of the most striking benefit in chlorosis. 
Sometimes a complete cure is effected by it alone, even in the worst 
cases, with (oedema) swelling of the extremities, and extreme dyspnoea. 
When there is complication v/ith tubercular diathesis, accompanied by 
cough. Sulphur and Calcarea" Carb. often prove highly beneficial in 
alternation, or if oppressive headache is complained of. Sepia may be 
given in alternation. Sometimes menstruation does not take place for 
some time afterwards, though the general health is very much 
improved under the employment of the remedies prescribed. Doi^x, , 
Six pills every morning. \ 

This disease should receive prompt, careful and persevering treat 
ment. It is dangerous only by reason of what it suggests respecting 
^he general state of the system and the presence of other and worstr 
ulments. 



236 DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 

SUPPRESSION OR DELAY OF THE MENSEfc.. 

This suppression either takes place during the flow, or in coiise- 
quence of causes acting previous to the actual appearance. In the 
former case a cold may have operated ; or cold washing may be the 
cause, or the feet may have got chilled, or the patient may not have 
Dcen sufficiently protected by her clothes ; mental or moral emotions, 
vexations, chagrin, anger, fright, or dancing, sexual intercourse, 
dietetic transgressions may have led to the suppression. 

Most of these causes, if operating shortly before the time when the 
menses were to come on, may cause their retention. A gradual sup- 
pression of the catamenia may take place in consequence of deficient 
nutrition, as well as of the abuse of warm beverages. 

The more sudden the suppression of the menses, the more violent 
the changes arising from such an occurrence. Some of the most 
prominent symptoms are : Violent headache, great anxiety and 
oppression of breathing, nose-bleed, spitting of blood, congestions ol 
the head, heart, and lungs, and the like. In some cases, a suppression 
of this kind gives rise to acute uterine catarrh. 

If a physician is called in time, he will, of course, inquire what gave 
rise to the trouble, and will seek to remove the consequences of fright, 
mortification, anger, etc., by appropriate specific remedies. If the 
physician is not called until some time after the morbid symptoms 
iiave existed, the aforesaid remedies will no longer be applicable, and 
Jne constitutional condition generally will have to be exited upon by 
corresponding remedies, and you should follow the same course as a 
physician. 

The Best Treatment. 

If the menstrual flow (menses) never has appeared, and the patient 
.5 strong and healthy, and there is no menstrual molimen (symptoms 
or sensations of menstruation), it is not prudent to resort to any inter- 
ference. Every means should be employed to strengthen and invig- 
orate the system. The body, rather than the mental faculties, should 
T>e exercised. Life in the open air, and tonics containing iron, should 



WOMB AND APPENDAGES. 

The uterus ia the organ of gestation, situated In th« 

cavity of the pelvis , between the bladder and the rectum. 

a. The body of the womb. d. The cervix, in the lower 

end of which is a transverse aperture, the os uteri ; 

around the uterus, and a little above its lower 

extremity, the vagina, c, which is here showa 

cut open and spread out The ovaries, d d^ art 




placed one on either side of the womb, below and 
behind the Fallopian tubes, ee^ and each month for a 
number of years, during the life of a woman, the 
ovum — egg — bursts from the ovary, and is carried for- 
ward into the womb. /, /. The broad ligaments. 
g. g. The round ligaments, h, h. Blood-vessels. 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 237 

be given, if the patient is anaemic (having thin blood.) Coiiodpcition 
should be corrected as directed in the treatment of that disease. The 
preparations containing Aloes are especially appropriate. 

Scarcely ever is menstruation (and menstrual sensation) absent 
after nineteen or twenty years, unless there is a lack of development 
in some of the organs of generation. This is to be inferred, if 
invigorating measures, after employment for some time, have proved 
ineffectual. The advice of a skillful physician should be always pro- 
cured. Development of the womb to a proper size has, in some 
cases, been induced by treatment. 

Retention of the menses is probable when regular symptoms of 
menstruation occur without the flow, and the abdomen of the patient 
gradually enlarges. The cause of retention may be absence of the 
vagina, an imperforate hymen or closure of the mouth of the womb 
These may be overcome by the skill of the surgeon. 

Bracing Up the General Health. 

If the general health is good, and the generative organs, vagina, 
uterus and ovaries are well, or reasonably developed, iron may be 
efficacious in establishing the menstrual flow. 

Persons who have amenorrhcea (suppression of menstruation) are 
generally suffering from an indisposition of some kind, with which the 
amenorrhcea is associated, or dependent upon. In some cases, the 
patient has fallen into ill health before the menses have ever appeared, 
and, as a consequence, there is no attempt at menstruation. 

It is, therefore, perfect nonsense to attempt to bring on the monthly 
flow, or cure the amenorrhcea, while the general health remains 
impaired. In a patient suffering from consumption, treatment ought 
not to be directed to menstruation at all, until the patient can be 
brought up to a good degree of general health, and then nature will 
establish the menses, if the system is able to sustain the discharge. It 
is a popular error that stoppage of the monthly courses is the cause of 
the ill-health which accompanies it, whereas, exactly the opposite is 
the truth ; the general indisposition has caused the suppression of the 



238 DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 

menses. In the treatment of these cases, the return of the monthly 
sickness is the final result to be attained. Improvement in other 
respects must be first attained, and, almost always, the rest will follow 
as a necess'^7 under nature's order alone. 

Pure Air and Exercise. 

If the patient is not surrounded by good hygiene, this is the first 
Doint to attain. She should have pure air, and exercise out of doors 
should be taken. This exercise, if taken for exercise, is apt to be 
neglected, and not be of a character which will make her of cheerful 
spirits ; recreations, such as buggy riding, and walking with cheerful 
companions, or rambles in the fields or woods, will accomplish this, 
if not carried to a point which is fatiguing. 

When the patient becomes exhausted at her exercise, she is going 
a little too far. A sedentary occupation may sometimes need to be 
changed for a more active one. With persons who are unaccustomed 
to physical exercise, this habit must be cautiously and gradually 
begun. 

With shop and factory girls, poor hygiene is most likely to be the 
cause of such a poor state of health as will produce amenorrhoea. In 
these cases, while the use of medicines follows the same rules as in 
other debilitated patients, it is quitt jecondary to the improvement of 
their hygenic circumstances. 

In schools, too little time is given to unrestrained life (exercise) in 
the open air, and too much time to quiet mental work, and the 
anxiety of parents as to the intellectual development of their children, 
leading them to send them to school at too early an age, and crowd- 
ing them too rapidly, is a prolific source of ill-health, and consequent 
amenorrhoea. If parents would not send their children to school 
until they were eight years old, and, then, if a large portion of the 
day was appropriated by every student, to take such recreations as her 
inclinations, lead her to, the breaking down and ill-health in schools 
for girls would be as rare as it is now common, provided eight full 
hours of the twenty-four were regularly spent in sleep. 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN 



239 



The importance of exercise is admitted, in theory, in these schools, 
but the amount is not regulated to the wants of each particular case 
The long ^valk may be beneficial to the strong and well-nourished, i\ 
they are accustomed to such exercise. The girls, not so strong and 
well-fed, may, in these very walks, lay the foundation for a serious 
disease. To make exercise most useful it must be pleasurable, and 
for that end restraint must be thrown off. Again, exercise ought not 
JO be violent. The gymnasium is productive of good, if not carried 
to an extreme. It may do much harm. Such exercises as jumping 
are not to be indulged ; occasional and moderate horseback riding is 
good, but carried to an extreme, it may do harm. 

Early hours, good nourishing food, of which animal tbod forms a 
large part, plenty of fresh air and warm clothing are necessary to 
ensure good health, both before and after menstruation. 

The constipation and derangement of the digestive organs is gen- 
erall}' an effect of the state of ill-health, which is to be corrected, in 
the first place, before the patient can take such an amount of nourish- 
ment as will bring her body to a vigorous state, and maintain it 
there. '. Vo or three Compound Rhubarb pills at night, followed by 
a Seidlitz Powder, or a dessertspoonfal of Rochelle Salts in Lemon- 
ade in the morning may be given once or twice a week for a time ; or 
after the bowels have moved freely from the use of three or four 
Compound Cathartic Pills, remedies may be used as are directed for 
constipation. The pills containing Aloes and Extract of Nux Vomica 
are to be preferred. 



The Rough Towel and Warm Clothing. 

The circulation should be maintained by free, pleasurable exercise 
^n the open air, sponging the skin with tepid or cool water, and rub- 
bing briskly with a coarse or rough towel, until the skin is aglow, and 
warm clothing. It is very important to keep the feet, legs and amis 
so well clothed that they will keep warm. 

The two remedies which are especially serviceable in building up 
the health to a point at which menstruation will occur in obedience to 



:240 DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 

nature alone are Iron and Quinine. One of the best forms for its 
efficacious administration is the Citrate of Iron and Quinine in doses 
of from two to five grains three times a day. It may be dissolved in 
Syrup of Ginger or Orange Flower water. Take of Citrate of Iron 
and Quinine from one and a half to three drachms, Syrup of Ginger six 
ounces. Mix. Dose: A teaspoonful, or a teaspoonful and a half, 
three times a day. 

If the bitter taste is seriously objected to, one or two grain pills of 
the Sulphate of Quinine may be given two or three times a day, and 
the same quantity of the Soluble Citrate of Iron may be given in 
solution with Cinnamon or Orange Flower water in the same propor- 
tions as directed for the Citrate of Iron and Quinine. 

Before buying the sugar or gelatine coated pills of Quinine one of 
these should be cut open with a knife;, if they are good they will be 
soft under the coating. 

Another Mode of Treatment. 

Pulsatilla should be employed when a suppression takes place from 
the sudden effects of a chill, when the symptoms generally correspond 
with those described under the head of that remedy, in the article on 
Chlorosis. Dose : Six pills in a teaspoonful of water, night and morn- 
ing, for a week (unless a change should sooner occur) ; then nause 
eight days, after which the course may, if necessary, be repeated as 
before, and so on. 

Cocculus in cases in which there are habitually attacks of colic-like 
pains in the bowels at the periods at which the menstrual discharge 
should occur if it were regular, more especially if the patient com- 
plains of great weakness of the lower extremities, languor and lassitude, 
precarious appetite, and generally also nausea, with much oppression 
at the chest and in the region of the stomach, etc. ; especially when 
this functional derangement occurs in full-habited and apparently 
healthy persons, particularly if the suppression be traced to mental 
amotions. Dose : As for Pulsatilla. 

Belladonna should be employed in cases whicn are associated with 



DISEA.SES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 241 

fullness of blood, determination of blood to the head, violent throbs 
bing of the arteries of the head and neck, and nose-bleed. Dose : As 
directed for Pulsatilla. 

PROFUSE MENSTRUATION. 

The quantity of the menstrual discharge varies a great deal in 
different individuals. The climate, constitution, and manner of living, 
have considerable influence. The duration of the discharge, and the 
periods of return, are also varied. In some women it continues from 
four to ten days, while in others it lasts only a few hours ; from three 
to six days is, however, the most usual period. The regularity is, in 
many cases, exact to a day, or even an hour ; while in others, a varia- 
tion of several days is a usual occurrence, without the slightest 
disturbance in the usual health resulting therefrom. 

An excess of loss of menstrual blood, a true menorrhagia, does not 
occur as often as it may geem to those who complain of it. To con- 
stitute menorrhagia, several circumstances have to occur that require 
to be carefully discriminated. The average of discharged blood has 
to exceed the ordinary loss quite considerably ; and then, again, we 
have to inquire whether the scantiness of the ordinary menstrual flow 
is not an abnormal diminution in the present case. 

The menstrual flow is likewise considered too copious if it continues 
beyond the ordinary period, although this need not necessarily imply 
that the menses are profuse. It is, therefore, the morbid character of 
the menses that is necessary to determine the disorder, for a copious 
flow of the menses cannot be considered abnormal as long as the 
constitutional harmony is in no respect disturbed by it. 

The Common Causes. 

The causes of profuse menstruation are quite numerous, of which 
it may be best to make mention of a few : Excess is occasioned by 
onanism, novel-reading, a constant dwelling of the fancy upon sexual 
things, and the habitual use of heating beverages. A few other im- 
portant points have to be added : Under certain circumstances, 3^ pro- 



242 DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 

fuse flow of the menstrual blood becomes a real physiological necessity 
to the body ; for instance, if a larger supply of nourishment than the 
body requires for its normal support, causes a real plethora. This can 
hardly be regarded as a morbid condition. A profuse flow is some- 
times occasioned by changes in the uterus, such as acute or chronic 
inflammation of the womb, or some foreign growth in the uterine 
cavity. Nursing exerts a very particular influence. As a rule, nursing 
women do not menstruate ; yet it may happen, even in the case of 
quite healthy mothers, that the menses reappear again permanently, 
in which case the flow is often very profuse. This is not a normal 
londition, although it does not inconvenience all women. 

Treatment for Profuse Menstruation. 

Ipecacuanha is one of the more generally useful medicines in severe 
cases of this derangement, as well as in flooding after labor, and may, 
in most instances, be administered first, unless there are strong indica- 
tions for a preference being given to any of the others. Dose : Six 
globules in a teaspoonful of water, repeated at intervals of six hours, 
until amelioration or change. 

Nux Vomica is especially appropriate for the following symptoms : 
The discharge being of too frequent occurrence, too profuse, and of 
too long duration ; and when it commonly stops for a day or so and 
then returns, attended with spasms in the belly ; sometimes nausea 
and fainting, especially in the morning ; pains in the limbs, restless- 
ness, irascibility. Nux Vomica is especially serviceable when the above 
symptoms occur in females who are addicted to the daily or frequent 
use of coffee, liquors, and other stimulants, or have been extensively 
drugged by unwise practitioners. Dose : Six globules in a teaspoonful 
of water, repeated at intervals of four hours. 

Gelsemium is indicated in cases in which there is scarcely an 
interval between the periods ; which are not, however, attended with 
much suffering ; or, the flow having ceased, is brought on again by 
fright or other mental emotion. Dose : Three globules. 

Patients who are habitually affected with excessive menstrual dis- 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 24S 

charge should live with great regularity, keeping early hours, taking 
regular, but moderate, daily exercise in the open air (during the 
intervals) in favorable weather, and partaking of nothing but the 
most digestible, simple, and unstimulating diet, which, at the same 
time, should be of a nourishing and strengthening description. 
Emotions of all kinds should be avoided as much as possible ; and 
during the continuance of the discharge the semi-recumbent posture 
. should be retained, and the body kept cool. Neither food nor drink 
should be taken hot ; the food should be as cool as it can be relished, 
or chiefly cold, and the beverage quite cold. 

Other Remedies Employed. 

The successful treatment of profuse menstruation will depend on 
the exact recognition of the profuse menstruation, and the use of 
appropriate means for effecting their removal. For this reason, if for 
no other, the skill of a physician is required to secure such a knowl- 
edge of the causes of the trouble as will lead to intelHgent and prope' 
treatment. 

The general condition of the patient is to be looked after, il rhe 
blood is impoverished, the patient must be invigorated, and ihe general 
health improved by good hygiene, good food, pure air, and exercise, 
carried to the point of making the patient feel vigorous, never fatigued, 
etc. If the patient resides in a malarious locality, anti-malarial treat- 
ment will be required, as two or "^liree grains of Quinine three or four 
times a day, or a larger dose once or twice a day for a few days or a 
week, followed by such directions as are given in the treatment of 
ague. The use of iron, as directed in the treatment of anaemia and 
ague, is generally necessary. If the bowels are torpid and inactive, 
they should be moved by a brisk cathartic, and during the day of the 
menstrual flow, a mixture of Epsom Salts and Aromatic Sulphuric 
Acid should be given, as : 

Take of Epsom Salts an ounce. Aromatic Sulphuric Acid half an 
ounce. Syrup three and a half ounces. Mix. Dose: A teaspoonfu] 
to a dessertspoonful, in water, four times a day. 



1 



244 DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 



In cases due chiefly to debility, a half a drachm of Sulphate of Iron 
may be added to the above formula. The dose will be the same, 
given three times a day. Two or three times a week a laxative pill 
may be taken, such as are directed for constipation, if the bowels are 
not sufficiently active. The chronic congestion of the uterus requires 
attention when this exists, which is always the case in those instances 
not dependent on organic disease. The warm vaginal douch, as 
directed for leucorrhoea, is useful. Tonics are also required which 
contain Quinine, Iron, and Strychnine, as : 

Take of Citrate of Iron and Quinine, and of the Citrate of Iron and 
Strychnine, each a drachm and a half; Water of Orange Flowers four 
ounces. Mix. Dose : A teaspoonful three times a day. 

This medicine may be sweetened with the addition of sugar or 
substituting Syrup of Orange. 

Derangement of the "Womb. 

Many a case of profuse menstruation depends upon a flexion of 
the womb. It is astonishing sometimes, how quickly the excessive 
flow will cease when this displacement is corrected. Hence the neces- 
sity of securing the services of a careful doctor, who can trace out 
the cause and apply the proper remedy. 

A chronic inflammation of the womb, resulting from sub-involution 
of the womb (its failure to regain its natural size after confinement or 
miscarriage), may cause this trouble. The most suitable constitutional 
treatment appears to be the daily use of the hot douche, and hot hip- 
bath, and rest much of the time in the reclining posture. The tonic 
recommended for chronic congestion is suitable, with three or four 
doses a day of half a teaspoonful of Fluid Extract of Ergot. If, after 
this treatment has been continued through a whole interval, between 
times of menstruation, without benefit, it will be well to try Iodide of 
Potassium instead of Strychnine, as in this formula : 

Take of Elixir of Cinchona and Pyrophosphate of Iron eight ounces, 
and add Iodide of Potassium five drachms. Mix. Dose : A teaspoon- 
ful to a dessertspoonful three times a day. 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 245 

LEUCORRHCEA— WHITES. 

Simple catarrh is one of the most common derangemencs of the 
female sex. It originates in a variety of causes. In the first place, 
we have to mention as exciting causes, such as act directly upon the 
sexual organs — excessive coition and self-abuse, miscarriage, and to 
some extent confinements, which, if occurring in too rapid succession, 
almost always cause leucorrhcea, especially when, after the last-named 
causes, the patient persists in getting about too soon. 

The influence of cold, damp weather, or exposure to cold and damp 
from the location of the residence in a marshy district, or perhaps the 
nature of the house itself (stone, with walls constantly moist on their 
inner surface), and from water standing in the cellar, especially when 
long continued, is a powerful promoter of leucorrhcea. 

Symptoms of Inflammation. 

An entire opposite, but not less numerous class of causes of this 
disease, may be found in the high living, stimulating spices, condi- 
ments, and drinks in which many women indulge. 

i\t the first appearance of leucorrhcea, there are usually the indica- 
tions of acute inflammation, pain, heat, and redness of the parts 
mvolved which may subside as the discharge becomes more and more 
fully developed. With this discharge, whether acute or chronic, there 
will usually be more or less pain in the groins and hypogastrum (lower 
part of the abdomen), and in the lower part and small of the back. The 
urethra will often become impHcated, causing painful micturation (passing 
water) in the acute form, andsometim.es causing almost inability to urinate. 

How this Disease Should be Treated. 
The treatment of leuchorrhoea, or whites, must necessarily be 
directed first to the cause, as failure of the general health, as from 
consumption or anaemia (impoverishment of the blood). The treat- 
ment will relate primarily to the treatment of consumption, with 
wliich this ailment is so frequently and closely associated; 
directions will be given in the article on consumption ; or, if thf 



246 DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 

patient is auccmic (pale, weak and tired, especially tired upon rising 
after a full night's rest), the treatment will first be directed to the 
removal of the anaemic condition, by the use of tonic remedies, espe- 
ciiilly Iron. 

When the discharge is very profuse and exhausting, the Phosphate 
or Hypophosphite of Lime may be given with great advantage. Dur- 
ing the general improvement of the body, the discharge diminishes. 
The Compound Syrup of the Hypophosphites (Lime, Soda, Potash , 
and Iron), meets the indications, and is agreeable to take. The dose 
is from a teaspoonful to a dessertspoonful, three times a day. If 
there are colicky pains or symptoms of dysentery, the Hypophos- 
phites should be combined with Dilute Phosphoric Acid. Take of 
the Compound Syrup of Hypophosphites seven ounces, Dilute Phos- 
phoric Acid one ounce. Mix. Dose : One or two teaspoonfuls three 
times a day. 

The kind and quantity of food should be regulated to meet the 

wants of the system. Sleep should be long and undisturbed. The 

skin must be kept warm with flannels, bathing, rubbing and out-door 

exercise. 

Baths and Injections. 

The bath should, as a rule, be warm and tepid, taken daily, and 
followed immediately by cool bathing. The combined sitz and 
sponge bath is most generally applicable ; after the bath the skin 
should be rubbed until it is aglow. If there is a poor reaction or no 
reaction, the cool bath should not be used. Some are most benefited 
by the warm baths exclusively. 

While many cases of leucorrhcea can be cured without them, injec- 
dons are very valuable in treating this trouble, and sometimes they 
are a necessity. A long, flexible syringe, having a long vaginal tube, 
should be selected, and used after the form called the " douche." The 
syringe should be filled and one end of the tube introduced into the 
vagina, and the other in the bucket containing the fluid, which is 
raised considerably higher than the patient. The tube acts as a 
siphon. The height of the bucket and the length of this column of 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 247 

fluid governs the force of the current. The flexible tube should, 
therefore, be long. 

In this way, any quantity of fluid can be used at an injection with- 
out wearying the patient. She should lie upon her back, with her 
hips raised with a pillow, and a rubber cloth so arranged that the 
fluid may be conducted into a bucket. In the use of water injections^ 
we have found warm water (as hot as can be borne) the best. The 
quantity allowed to flow through the vagina should be large- — one or 
two gallons, frequently repeated. Sometimes the cold douche alter- 
nated with the hot douche, and less often the cold douche alone, 
gives better results. 

The Seat of Disease. 

The diseased surface is not generally the vagina, but the interior of 
the womb, which medicated injections do not reach. They are often, 
however, useful. The simple water injection should be used first, 
followed by a quart of the medicated injection. A strong tea of 
White Oak Bark, with or without the addition of one or two tea- 
spoonfuls of Alum in the quart may be used. One or two drachms of 
Tannin and four drachms of Alum to a quart of water is often service- 
able. One or two even teaspoonfuls (drachms) of Sulphate of Zinc in 
a quart of water may be used. It is often better to change the injec- 
tion from time to time. If the flow is offensive, the Permanganate of 
Potash, two drachms to the quart, or one drachm of Carbolic Acid to 
the quart of water, may be used for an injection. If the discharge 
is irritating, bathing the external genitals with a solution of Soda 
or Borax will be useful. 

A Second Mode of Treatment. 

The radical cure of this disorder is attended with much difficulty, 
and can only be effected by long, patient and careful treatment in 
those cases in which it is incidental to serious derangements of the 
womb, or of its appendages. 

Pulsatilla is indicated when the discharge is thick, like cream, or 
milky, and sometimes gives rise to a burning sensation ; when, more- 



248 DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 

over, it is associated with indigestion, and occurs in females of relaxed 
fibre and lymphatic temperament, or in whom the monthly flow is 
irregular and scanty; the discharge is often worse when lying down. 
Dose : Six globules in a teaspoonful of water, morning and evenings 
for four days (unless a decided change should sooner occur) ; then 
pause four days, after which the course may, if necessary, be repeated 
as before, and so on. 

Sepia should be selected when the affection occurs in delicate and 
A:xhaustcd females, the discharge being yellow or green, generally 
watery, and more or less acrid or corrosive ; and when it is accom- 
panied by a tendency to profuse perspiration, particularly on sitting 
down, after walking. Sepia is, also, additionally indicated, if the 
monthly discharges are irregular; and, further, when bearing-down is 
often experienced. Dose : Four globules. 

China should be given when the discharge is very profuse, and 
gives rise to great debility ; the menses seem to be suspended, or the 
leuccorrhoeal discharge occurs instead ; painful pressing towards the 
groins and anus. Dose: Four globules, as directed for Pidsatilla. 

.ffisculus-hip (Buckeye) is indicated where the whites are accom- 
panied by intense pain and lameness in the back and hips, so that it is 
almost impossible to rise after sitting, or to walk a long distance ; 
constipation, and piles. Dose: Three globules, as directed for 
Pulsatilla. 

Podophyllum should be administered in cases in which the dis- 
charge is thick and transparent, and there is constipation, and a 
feeling of bearing, or pressing downwards on the genitals ; falling of 
the womb, and protrusion of the intestine during stool. Dose: Three 
globules, as directed for Piilsatilla. 

Collinsonia is indicated by cases in which the discharge, which may 
be thick or thin, is accompanied by great itching of the parts ; and 
there are obstinate constipation, and disordered and painful menstru:: 
tion. Dose: Three globules, as directed for Pulsatilla. 

lodium may be found very useful in cases of long standing, par 
Ucularly in scrofulous subjects; the whites are most abundant at o^ 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 249 

near the t'mi- for the menstrual flow ; and the discharge is so very- 
acrid and corrosive that not only are the adjacent parts made sore, 
but the imderclothing is made rotten and destroyed. Dose: Six 
globules. 

The diet ought to be simple, but generally very nutritive. Coffee 
and tea ought to be avoided, and cocoa or arrowroot substituted. 
Regular exposure to the benign influence of the fresh air is commend- 
able, but over-fatigue and prolonged standing should be seduously 
avoided. 

PROLAPSUS UTERI— FALLING OF THE WOMB. 

This is one of the most common forms of uterine displacement. It 
occurs in three distinct, different degrees, to each of which some 
writers on the subject have affixed a different name. Thus, relaxa- 
tion, or simple descent of the womb, is understood to indicate the 
first and least displacement downward, and to consist only in a simple 
bearing-down of the womb upon the upper portion of the vagina. In 
prolapsus uteris the organ comes still lower down, and may present 
itself at the orifice of the vagina. 

In procerdentia uteri there is actual protrusion of the organ, even the 
entire body of the womb being, in some cases, extended from the 
rulva. These are but different degrees of descent of the uterus in 
the line of the vagina. Upon examination of the same displaced 
uterus, at different times of the day, it may be found to be more or 
less prolapsed, according to the condition of active exercise, or quiet, 
in which the parts may have been for some hours previous. 

Primary Symptoms.' 

The principal and primary symptoms of the descent of the womb 
are : dragging and aching pains in the small of the back, pulling and 
bearing-down pains in the lower part of the abdomen, sensation as if 
something would issue from the vagina ; sufferings much worse from 
walking, or other exercise : the pains are often noticed to have come 
immediately after some exertion of an unusual kind, and after some 



250 DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 

more than ordinary muscular effort ; frequent calls to urinate, dysuria 
(painful urination), or even retention of urine. 

In the more fully developed forms of prolapsus, the history of the 
case, the attendant circumstances, and the external appearance of the 
mouth of the womb, and even of the entire body of the uterus itself, 
can hardly fail to render the diagnosis at once easy and certain. And 
if the falling of the womb is not so far developed as to give any such 
external signs, the severe aggravation from walking and from lifting, 
together with the relief experienced from lying down, render the case 
sufficiently clear. Should there be any doubt, however, the vaginal 
touch will verify the diagnosis. 

Causes of the Falling of the W^omb. 

Prolapsus of the womb may arise from various causes, such as 
over-lifting or some other muscular exertion, or from an improper 
manner of dress, such as tight lacing, or the weight of heavy clothing 
dragging on the abdomen. In case of married women who have 
borne children, many cases of falling of the womb are caused by 
mismanagement. 

Perhaps the bandage worn has been too tight, or has slipped 7^ and 
the pressure has forced the bowels to press down upon the womb 
while in a relaxed condition, or, perhaps, the patient has gotten up 
from the bed too soon after confinement ; the whole system being 
weak, it is very easy to do a little too much, and bring on injuries 
which are very often hard to relieve one's self of. In cases of 
displacement of the womb, the recumbent posture is a necessary 
requirement, together with the properly selected remedy ; a. cure 
can very frequently be obtained. 

Treatment. 

Belladonna. Pressure, as though all the contents of the abdomei 
would issue through the genital organs. This is particularly felt earl} 
in the morning ; sensation of heat and dryness in the vagina. Pain' 
in the pelvic region, which come on suddenly and cease suddenly, or 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 251 

jeeling in the back as if it would break, hindering motion, suppression 
of the stool and of urine. 

Chamomilla. Frequent pressure toward the uterus, like labor 
^«)ains, with frequent desire to urinate, often passing large quantities of 
colorless urine. Frequent discharge of clotted blood, with tearing 
pain in the veins of the legs, and violent labor-like pains in the uterus. 
Contrary to her condition in health, she is always out of humor, par= 
ticularly at her menstrual periods, when she is headstrong, even unto 
quarreling. She can hardly speak a pleasant word, and has to restrain 
herself in order to do so. 

China. In cases where the prolapsus and attendant symptoms were 
superinduced by losses of fluids, particularly of blood. She has much 
ringing in the ears, a sense of distention in the abdomen, which is not 
relieved by eructations. 

Nux Vom. Prolapsus t^ceri, from straining by lifting. Pressure 
toward the genital organs, early in the morning, in bed, or during a 
walk, with a sensation of drawing in the abdomen. Constipation of 
large, hard, difficult stools, or small stools, with frequent urging. Pain 
in the small of the back, preventing her from turning over in bed. 
Frequent urination ; she passes little, and often, with much burning 
pain. The prolapsus of long standing is often accompanied with dry 
cough, and a sense of constriction around the lower part of the 
abdomen. 

THE CHANGE OF LIFE— MENOPAUSE, 

After a certain number of years, woman lays aside those functions 
with which she has been endowed for the perpetuation of the species, 
and resumes once more that exclusively individual life which had been 
her's when a child. The evening of her days approaches, and if she- 
has observed the precepts of wisdom, she may look forward to a lon; 
and placid period of rest, blessed with health, honored, yes, love^' 
with a purer flame than any which she inspired in the bloom of youth 
and beauty. 

But ere this haven of rest is reached, there is a crisis to pass, which 



252 DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 

is ever the subject of anxious solicitude. The more common and less 
scientific name for it is the change of life ; physicians know it as the 
menopause — the period of the cessation of the monthly flow. It is 
the epoch when the ovaries cease producing any more ova, and the 
woman becomes, therefore, incapable of bearing any more children. 

The age at which this occurs is variable. In this country, from 
forty to forty-six years is the most common, though instances are not 
at all unusual where it does not take place until the half century has 
been turned, and we have known instances where women past sixty 
have continued to have their periodical returns. 

An Infallible Index of the Approaching Change. 

Examples of early cessation are more rare. We rarely meet them 
earlier than thirty years, but healthy women have been observed in 
whom the flow had ceased as early as twenty-eight. 

The physical change which is most apparent at this time is the ten 
dency to grow stout. The fat increases as the power of reproduction 
decreases. And here a curious observation comes in. We have said 
thc\t when a girl changes to a woman a similar deposit of fat takes 
place (though less in amount), which commences at the loins. This 
is the first sign of puberty. In the change of life, the first sign is 
visible at the lower part of the back of the neck, on a level with the 
bones known as the cervical vertebra. There commences an accu- 
mulation of fat, which often grows to form two distinct prominences, 
and is an infallible index of the period of a woman's life. 

The breasts do not usually partake of this increase, but become flat 
and hard, the substance of the gland losing its spongy texture. The 
legs and arms lose their roundness of outline, and where they do not 
grow fat, they wither up and resemble those of the other sex. The 
abdomen enlarges, even to the extent, occasionally, of leading the 
wife to believe that she is to be a mother — a delusion sometimes 
strengthened by the absence of the monthly sickness. Finally, a per- 
ceptible tendency to a beard often manifests itself, the voice grow^ 
harder, and the characteristics of the female sex become less distinct. 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN, 253 

In proportion as women enjoy good health, and especially in pro- 
portion as the menses are normal in quantity, and regular in their 
return, may we expect to pass through the trying season of the change 
of life at about the usual age, or a little later, and with comparatively 
little suffering, while in proportion as the health has been poor, and 
especially at the time of puberty, and the menses have been imperfect 
and irregular, shall we have reason to apprehend that the change of 
life will be, indeed, a critical period, and that it will require all the 
care and skill that can be employed to go through it in safety, and 
with health improved, instead of being rendered much worse. 

For the change of life, once well passed, the woman settles down 
with a new form of life, and it may be with a new lease of life, and 
has a right to look forward to a happy old age. It is gratifying to 
know that nearly all the threatening affections of the change of life 
can be avoided by such hygienic care as one can render themselves, 
as they depend upon causes under the control of the individual. 

Symptoms of the Change of Life. 

These vary in different individuals according to their respective 
temperament ; for in this, as well as in other conditions, women 
present the plethoric (full of blood), the chlorotic or nerv^ous 
type. Thus, in those of the plethoric type, the symptoms will 
resemble those of congestion ; there may be flushes of heat, rush of 
blood to the face and head, uterine and other hemorrhages, leu- 
corrhoea, and even diarrhoea. In those of the chlorotic type, the 
symptoms which, at or near the proper age, would indicate the 
approach of the change of life, are the sallow complexion, weak 
pulse and various other indications of debility. 

In those of a nervous type there is, as the change approaches, an 
evident disturbance of the equilibrium, not unlike that which, in similar 
cases, precedes the monthly flow. Hence, the over-anxious look, 
the brimful eye, the terror-struck expression, as if apprehensive ol 
seeing some frightful objects, the face bedewed with perspiration, and 
the remarkable tendency to hysteria, sometimes to be met with. 



254 DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 

In many cases, the change of life comes on so gradually, that 
the system accommodates itself to the new order of things with no 
shock to the nervous system, and without disturbing the accustomed 
harmony of the general circulation. In such cases, the intervals 
between the menstrual periods become more and more prolonged, and 
even the menstrual discharge itself may gradually diminish in 
quantity. The most frequent, and least dangerous symptom, is an 
irregular return of the menstrual flow every week, or every two or 
three weeks, or every two, three or four or six months, and being raore 
or less irregular as regards quality or quantity of menstrual blood. 

Alarming Flooding. 

Serious and alarming hemorrhages frequently set in. ^specially among 
plethoric and nervous women, or such as have indulged in sexual 
excesses. Sometimes these hemorrhages alternate with whitish or 
yellowish leucorrhcea, which often has a foetid smell, is acrid and 
extremely copious. This leucorrhcea may continue long after the 
menstrual discharge has entirely ceased to appear. At this period 
we not unfrequently meet with colic, uterine cramps, pains in the sides, 
weight in the loins, or distressing itching in the parts. 

The most distressing diseases with which the change of life is 
attended, and often terminate fataly, are ulcers and polypi of the uteres, 
and cancers of this organ and of the breast, also ; pulmonary phthisis 
(or consumption), likewise, takes a fresh development and frequently 
terminates fatally. 

In this place, it will be sufficient to refer to the different disorders 
described in this chapter, such as hemorrhage, flooding, diarrhoea, etc., 
and to their corresponding medicines, for the treatment of the various 
forms of disease that arise at the change of life. The remedies most 
frequently useful in disorders of the critical age will be found, asid 
other affections which may be the most prominent of those which 
attend the change of life. By all means, the simple treatment for 
promoting and maintaining the general health and strengthening the 
constitution should be adopted and wisely pursued. 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 255 

INFLAMMATION OF THE BREASTS. 

The mammae constituting exclusively a part of the female organism, 
we prefer treating of inflammation of the mammae in this place, instead 
of ranging this disease among the diseases of the thoracic organs. 

Mastitis, or inflammation proper, only occurs during or immediately 
after nursing. The painful, sometimes rather extensive, hardened 
swellings of single portions of the breasts, which sometimes occur 
among unmarried females or married women who are not nursing, 
especially about the time of the menses, are evidently transitory states 
of congestion which never terminate in suppuration. 

The cause of mastitis is always traceable to the impeded discharge 
of milk. By some cause or other, soreness, or a bad shape of the 
nipples, or too feeble drawing of the child, one or more milk-ducts 
become closed. 

The doctrine that mastitis can originate in dietetic transgressions or 
cold, is a convenient supposition rather than a scientific fact. What 
happens with other abscesses, is, likewise, true in regard to abscesses of 
the mammae ; in some cases they heal rapidly, in other cases they 
cause vast destructions of tissue. Mastitis is most apt to occur soon 
after confinement, or shortly after weaning the child ; mastitis occur- 
ing at the latter period, is less apt to lead to the formation of abscesses. 

Sure Signs of the Ailment. 

The disease never breaks out all at once. Generally, women 
experience, some time previous, a gradually increasing pain, both 
spontaneously or while the child is nursing and a swelling 
develops itself soon after. As a rule, the lower or lateral lobes are 
inflamed, very seldom the upper ones, and still less frequently both 
breasts. Sooner or later, sometimes in a few days, and at other times 
in some weeks, the painful spot becomes red and more sensitive, and 
the inflammation is intense, the whole organism feels the effect of the 
inflammatory process, and shows its sympathy by febrile phenomena. 
Soon the infiltrated tissue shows the signs of suppuration, the pus 



266 DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 

being discharged through a small opening. As soon as the discharge 
commences, the pain ceases and the febrile symptoms abate. 

The course of the inflammation depends upon a variety of circum- 
stances. If the inflammation is confined to one lobe, the abscess most 
commonly discharges close to the nipple, empties itself very rapidly, 
and heals. If several lobes are inflamed, or the inflamed lobe is 
situated near the base, the suppuration, swelling, and pain continue for 
a long time ; months and even years may elapse before the abscess 
heals, which discharges through several openings near the nipple. 
This disorder never lasts less than two weeks, and, under correspord- 
ing circumstances may continue for months even in its acute form. 

General Treatment. 

The treatment of mastitis includes, above everything else, a prophy- 
lactic treatment which has to be commenced long before confinement, 
especially in the case of primiparae (a woman with her first child). 
The preservation and proper management of the nipples, and of the 
mammae generally, should be a constant subject of our attention. 
After confinement, if women do not intend to nurse their children, 
they will have to dispense with liquids as much as possible. 

Nursing women have to keep the following points constantly in 
view : the breasts must not be kept too warm, must not be enclosed 
in tight clothing, and must, by some suitable support, be prevented 
from dragging down ; every time after the baby has nursed, the nipple 
must be washed, but not be kept moist between the acts of nursing ; 
the excessive use of liquids which women fancy favor the secretion of 
milk, must be avoided ; the child should be put to the breast as seldom 
as possible ; for the more hungry it is the more vigorously it will draw 
and the more completely the breast will be emptied. 

At the same time the nipples will not be held so long in the child's 
mouth, and they will not be exposed so much to the risk of being 
rnade sore by the constant nursing. By following these instructions, 
and more particularly, by putting the child to the breast every two 
kours, mastitis will generally be pi evented. You must do it. 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 257 

If the breasts have become hard and painful, the best remedy in the 
case of lying-in women is Bryonia, less frequently Belladonna; whereas, 
the latter medicine is better adapted to women who are weaning their 
infants. We sometimes succeed in dispersing the stagnation of the 
milk by gently rubbing the indurated portion while the child is nurs- 
ing. The same good effect is sometimes obtained by causing the milk 
to be drawn by an older, more vigorous child. 

In no event should the infant be all at once kept from the breastj 
even if nursing causes pain. It is only if the pain is very acute, anof 
the hardness considerable, that the infant should no longer be put to 
the diseased breast. Belladonna will now have to be administered. 
As soon as redness has set in, the chances of scattering the inflamma- 
tion are very slim ; in some exceptional cases we may sometimes suc- 
ceed in effecting this result by a few doses of Mercurius. Warm 
poultices should never be omitted ; they sometimes favor the disper- 
sion of the abscess as much as in other cases they hasten the process 
of suppuration. Hepar sulphuris will piomote the discharge of the pus. 

A great many authorities teach to open the abscess at an early 
period, in order to prevent the further spread of the inflammation. 
We doubt whether such a proceeding is justified by corresponding 
results ; after opening the abscess, we have often seen the inflamma- 
*:ion spread much more rapidly ; in the most tedious cases of mastitis, 
the abscess had been opened in accordance with this suggestion. In 
a fortnight, at least, the discharge of pus ceases under the use of a few 
doses of Mercurius, and the sore heals. 

Treatment for Inflamed Breasts, 

Bryonia is the principal remedy in this affection, before the inflam- 
mation becomes fully developed, especially when the breasts are hard, 
red, tense, and tumefied, and feel heavy, and when there is some, 
degree of fever. Dose : Of a solution of six globules to four tea- 
Bpoonfuls of water, give a teaspoonful every four hours. 

Belladonna is, however, required when the inflammation is more 
intense, and the erysipelatous appearance of the skin is clearly defined, 
17 



258 DISEASES MCULIAR TO WOMEN. 

usually running in radii ; and is, in such instances, usually sufficient to 
subdue all such inflammatory symptoms. Dose: As directed iox Bryonia, 

Sulphur may be required, more especially for the treatment of scrof- 
ulous subjects, and when the previous administration of Belladonna 
has been productive of partial or limited improvement, and evident 
susceptibility remaining, even if the active inflammatory symptoms 
have been allayed. It is also useful when, after the bursting of an 
abscess in the breast, the cavity is slow in healing up, and the discharge 
excessive. Dose : As for Bryonia. 

Graphites should be employed, particularly in scrofulous subjects 
where the breasts are in such bad condition from previous inflamma- 
tions and abscesses that the milk cannot flow, and its retention 
threatens inflammation and abscess. Graphites will, in most cases, 
ward off this difficulty. Should Graphites fail, Phytolacca should be 
tried, no other remedy being more prominently indicated. Dose : As 
directed for Sulphur. 

Phytolacca-decandria will be found to be a most valuable remedy 
in many cases ; more particularly where the breasts are hard from the 
commencement of the disorder, sensitive to touch, and more or less 
painful. It will also prove useful for *' lumps" in the breasts. Dose: 
As directed for Bryonia ; use, also, as an external application. 

Mercurius may be required after any of the foregoing medicines, 
when, notwithstanding the previous treatm.ent, and the reduction of the 
inflammatory symptoms, a degree of induration still remains. Dose : 
As directed for Sulphur. 

Phosphorus is indicated when symptoms of threatening formation 
of matter (abscess), such as increase in pain, with transitory chills, and 
throbbing in the breast ensue. Its immediate employment, under such 
circumstances, will often succeed in speedily relieving pain, and pre- 
venting the ripening and bursting of the abscess. It is also indicated 
in severe cases where there are already fistulous ulcers formed, of blue 
appearance, and having callous edges ; and the patient has hectic fever 
and night sweats. Dose : Three globules, every six hours, untif relief 
is obtained. 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 2e59 

HEARTBURN— ACIDITY— WATERBRASH. 

These distressing forms of gastric disturbance sometimes make their 
appearance soon after conception, while in other cases they may not 
make their appearance until after the fourth month. Some women 
are remarkably subject to these symptoms when pregnant ; in others 
they are manifested with less violence ; in others not at all. There 
may be merely a burning sensation — heartburn in the throat — which 
indicates sympathetic irritation : or the severe forms of waterbras.H 
v/ith acidity which arise from more fully developed irritation. 

As in the nausea and vomiting of pregnancy, so in waterbrash^. 
acidity, and heartburn, every degree of intensity and variety of mani« 
festation and complication may be seen in different individual cases. 
Sometimes these disturbances are found accompanied with, and greatly 
aggravating the nausea and vomiting, while at other times they seem 
to appear instead of the vomiting. 

As in cases of ordinary dyspepsia, these sufferings are worse after 
certain articles of food or drink, such as meats, fat meats or gravies, 
milk or fruit. In the more severe cases, nearly everything that is 
eaten becomes but an added fuel to the burning fire. Still, a careful 
avoidance of all those articles which, whether solid or liquid, are 
ifound to disagree most, and a careful selection from the remedie.'^ 
given, will, as in cases of nausea and vomiting, go very fa^ to remove 
the most distressing symptoms, and eventually to secure a gr^^t 
improvement in the general health. 

Treatment. 

Antimonium Crudum. Nausea alone or nao.^ea and frightful vomit- 
ing with convulsion. Belching, with a taste of what has been eaten. 
Thirst at night. Painful sense of fulness of the stomach, which is 
sore on pressure. Dose : Eight pills every four hours. 

Arsenicum is very useful when there is a very great debility and 
exhaustion. Very pale, white look. Sensation as of a stone in the 
stomachv Vomiting of fluids as soon as she takes them. Exhausti^.g 



260 DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 

diarrhoea. Feels cold and wants to be in a warm room. Very uneasy 
and restless. Dose : As for Antimoniinn Crzcdum. 

Conium. Vertigo on turning in bed. Eructations with heartburn. 
Terrible nausea and vomiting. Where the history of the case reveals 
the fact of swelling and soreness of the breasts with each menstrual 
period, and the patient always feels worse after going to bed, and has 
to walk about to get relief Dose : Six pills every three hours. 

Sepia. The thought of food sickens her. Eructations tasting like 
bad eggs. Want of appetite. Taste bitter or saltish. Disgust for all 
kinds of food. Vomiting of food and bile. Constipation. Dose : Six 
pills every night and morning. 

CONSTIPATION OF PREGNANCY. 

Constipation is a very common attendant upon pregnancy, so fre- 
quent that by some it is deemed almost a natural consequence. But 
it is much more apt to occur, and at the same time to be more 
troublesome and obstinate, in pregnant women, whose habits of life 
are confining, and those who are naturally of a more costive habit. 
When it does not arise from mechanical pressure exerted hy the 
uterus upon the rectum, by which its dimension is lessened and its 
action paralyzed, active exercise in the open air (avoiding indigestible 
food, strong coffee, and other stimulating liquids) is sufficient to 
remove the complaint, or, at all events, render it less troublesome. 

When nature requires further assistance, the followmg remedies 

have given the best satisfaction in the numerous cases which we have 

treated. 

Treatment, 

Nux Vomica. In women of sedentary habits, accustomed to the 
use of much coffee, wine, and rich and highly-seasoned food, gener- 
ally. Stools large and difficult ; colicky pains, or loud rumbling or 
rolling in the bowels. Constipation in persons who have been in the 
habit of using purgatives. Rush of blood to the head during stool. 
Dose : Four pills every evening, dry on the tongue. 

Ignatia can be made use of when the same symptoms as given after 




THE VITAL SYSTEM. 

A. Heart. B, B. Lungs. C. Liver. D. Stomach. S. Spleen. 
m, m. Kidneys, g. Bladder, d is the diaphragm which forms 
the partition between the thorax and abdomen. Under the 
latter is the cardiac orifice of the stomach, and at the right 
extremity, or pit of the stomach, is the pyloric orifice; below 
■re the large and small intestines, i. Womb. A, h. Ovaries. 
i'. Bladder. 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 261 

Nux., with the addition of an empty feeling at the pit of the stomach ; 
sighing and full of grief Dose : Four pills every morning, dry on 
the tongue. 

Bryonia. The stool is mostly dark, dry and hard, as if burnt, and 
is evacuated with much difficulty. The lips are parched and cracked. 
Much thirst. Stinking flatulency. Obstruction of the bowels from 
hardened stool. Stool too large to be evacuated without pain. Dose : 
The same as directed for NtLV. 

Sepia. Sensation of weight or heavy lump in the anus ; this is a 
very characteristic indication. The stool is very difficult to pass, even 
with the most terrible and involuntary strainings. Knotty and insuf- 
ficient stool. Sepia has given very marked benefits. Dose : A powder 
each second night. 

TOOTHACHE DURING PREGNANCY. 

Toothache is a common and veiy distressing accompaniment of 
pregnancy, being, in fact, only a particular form of neuralgia. 

If toothache occurs in sound teeth, as is quite frequent, they should 
never be extracted, and only the greatest care should be used in 
extracting decayed ones, especially if the patient be of a very nervous 
temperament. The female should, as soon as she is in proper state, 
put herself under proper treatment, for this is a valuable indication of 
some constitutional taint lurking in the system, and no remedies can 
be otherwise than palHative, until this tendency is eradicated. 

Treatment. 

Alumina (Alum). When the pains are excited by mastication (chew- 
ing of the food), and when they are of a tearing nature, extending to 
the cheek bone, temple and forehead. 

Calcarea. When the toothache is excited or aggravated by cold 
air, or anything hot or cold, and attended with painful sensation of the 
gums, and pulsative, gnawing, or throbbing pains which are aggravated 
by noise. 

Sepia is particularly indicated when there is pulsative, shooting, 



262 DISEASES PECQLlAR I'O WOMEN. 

drawing toothache, with pain extending to the ears, or to the arms 
and fingers, excited by compressing the teeth or by cold air, and 
attended with swelling of the cheek, and enlargement of the glands 
under the lower jaw. 

Magnesia Carbonica. Nocturnal pains in the teeth, insupportable 
when lying down, and compelling the patient to get up and walk ; 
pains generally boring, burning, drawing, tearing, and resembling 
those of ulceration, attended with swelling of the cheek on the, 
affected side. Dose: These remedies maybe given every three hours, 
six pills at a dose, until relief, and then the time may be lengthened. 

SWELLING OF LOWER LIMBS— VARICOSE VEINS. 

This a very common attendant of pregnancy ; it often occasions no 
little inconvenience, and is usually confined to the seventh, eighth 
and ninth months. It is supposed to arise, in most instances, from 
mechanical pressure alone, and to be free from constitutional disease. 
This is true in those cases where it is not accompanied by dropsical 
affections. Standing and walking serve to aggravate this condition ; 
it becomes worse toward evening, gradually increases as pregnancy 
advances, and is often combined with a varicose state of veins. 

Many females suffer much during pregnancy from distention of 
veins in the thigh and other parts, which, becoming violent, eventually 
cause great pain and inconvenience. These varicose veins generally 
arise from obstructed circulation, caused by the pressure of the uterus 
upon the blood-vessels. Considerable alleviation is experienced by 
constant bathing with water or with diluted alcohol or brandy. Also, 
by bandaging from the foot upwards with a gentle and equal pros- 
sure, and by preserving a recumbent posture, which is required in 
severe forms of the complaint, accompanied with considerable swelling 
of the feet, ankles, etc. 

Treatment. 

Pulsatilla may be given, particularly when there is excessive pain 
•and swelling, with a good deal of inflammation, or when the veins 
are of i» livid color which is imparted to the whole limb. 



1 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 263 

Arnica is of great service when the occupations of the patient 
render it impossible for her to lay herself up, and avoid much stand- 
ing and moving about in discharge of her domestic duties. 

Pulsatilla and Arnica given in alternation, a dose every day, will 
prove very beneficial in such cases. 

Nux Vomica when the affection is attended with constipation and 
piles, and irritability of temper. Dose : Six pills every evening. 

Arsenicum when the veins are attended with severe burning pain, 
with a sensation as if scalding water was running over them. Dose : 
Eight pills every second evening. 

URINARY DIFFICULTIES DURING PREGNANCY. 

As gestation advances, the increasing size of the uterus causes it to 
press more and more against the bladder. Thus the capacity of that 
organ is diminished by the pressure which necessitates a much more 
frequent discharge of urine. The same frequent micturation results, 
too, from direct irritation of the neck of the bladder, causing hourly 
calls to pass w^ater, which are sometimes but partially relieved by the 
flow of a few drops, only, at a time, or the irritation may amount to 
dysury (painful urination), or even to a complete retention of urine. 

Where some displacement seems to be the cause, which may some- 
times be known by the suddenness of the onset of the difficulty, 
especially if it follows some accident or over-exertion, the case should 
receive treatment for the difficulty, different than that which arises 
from other causes. 

Sometimes Caused by Pressure of the Womb. 

Incontinence of urine sometimes appears, especially in the latter 
stages of pregnancy. When it appears in the early months, it may 
result from the pressure of the womb upon the neck of the bladder 
before it rises out of the pelvic cavity, causing the loss of tones 
of the part. This difficulty will often yield to the proper remedy ; 
but if not, when it comes on in the early stage of pregnancy, it may 
be expected to disappear when quickening takes place. 



264 DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 

For the medical treatment of these difficulties, the following reme- 
dies should be studied. It is to be noted, likewise, that these reme- 
dies should be consulted and may be required for urinary difficulties 
occurring, not only during pregnancy, but before, during and after 
parturition as well. 

Treatment. 

Aconite. Retention of urine, with stitches in the region of the 
kidneys. Difficult and scanty emission, with pinching around the 
umbilicus (navel). Bright-red, hot urine. Desire to urinate, accom- 
panied with great distress, fear and anxiety. Worse from exposure 
to dry, cold o-ir. Dose : Six pills every half hour or hour, owing to 
the severity of the case. 

Arnica. After passing a little urine she wishes to pass more, but 
is unable to do so at that time. Brown urine with brick-red sedi- 
ment. A bruised and sore feeling exists across the lower part of the 
abdomen. Dose : Four or six pills every two or three hours. 

Cantharis. Very frequent urination, even sixty times an hour, 
with violent cutting pain, causing her to scream. The urine is often 
bloody. The urine does not flow in a stream, but dribbles away, or 
passes drop by drop, with cutting and burning pains, and tenesmus of 
the bladder, which is agonizing in severity. Dose: Same as for 
Aconite. 

SECRETION OF MILK. 

This is one of the most mv^resting and lemarkable changes occur- 
ring during the lying-in period. While the child is still in the uterus, 
all that pertains to the mother unites to eflect its nourishment, growth, 
and development there. Suddenly all this is interrupted, the child is 
expelled from the little world within, and has to find nourishment else- 
where. Nature intends it to be supplied, as before, from the maternal 
blood, though through the medium of mammary glands. The reac- 
tion upon the organism, from this change from the uterus to the breast, 
causes what is called milk fever, in consequence of which there results 
a disturbance in the system, more or 'ess well marked, according to 
the obstacles to be overcome. 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 265 

In some cases appear chills, fevers, headaches, and a great variety 
of pains and suffering ; while in others this period is passed without 
any of the above-mentioned disturbances. As a general thing, all the 
disturbances incident to the coming of the milk are less when the 
child is applied to the breast as soon after delivery as is practicable. 
Much advantage is gained both to the mother and child by this 
method, since it serves to lessen the suffering of one from hunger, and 
the danger of the other from fever. 

It is of vast importance that the natural operations of the organism 
peculiar to this condition proceed with regularity. Among these, the 
secretion of milk takes a prominent position, and its sudden suppres- 
sion is apt to be followed by internal and local inflammation, flow o{ 
blood to the head, hot and cold flashes, etc. The use of the following 
remedies should be employed according to their indications. 

Treatment. 

Pulsatilla should be promptly applied in cases of sudden sup- 
pression of the secretion of the milk, whatever cause has occasioned 
it; and this medicine will frequently be found sufficient to restore the 
natural flow of milk. Dose: Four pills, repeated every four hours (or 
every eight, in very mild cases) until change. 

Bryonia is to be preferred when there is oppression at the chest or 
stitching pains in the chest or side, or more particularly if the sup- 
pression can be traced to some sudden mental emotion, or to catch- 

,lng cold. Dose : As for Pulsatilla. 

\ Chamomilla should be selected if the patient be particularly irri- 
table and excitable, and the suppression be followed by intense flush- 
ing of heat or burning heat of the hands and face, either with crimson 
flush or alternate flushing and paleness, or one cheek red and the other 
pale. Dose : As for Pulsatilla. 

EXCESSIVE SECRETION OF THE MILK. 

Occasionally, on the other hand, it happ.'^ns that too abundant a 
secretion takes place, causing distention of the breasts with spon'ane- 



266 DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 

ous flow of milk, keeping the breasts constantly wet. Relief from 
such an uncomfortable state may be obtained by the appropiate remedy 
according to the indications below. The function of lactation being 
one purely physiological, and provided for in the economy of suitable 
forces. Under the stimulus of maternal instinct and affection most 
women enjoy perfect health during its continuance. Many, indeed 
are never so well as when giving suck to their children. 

Gradual Exhaustion of the System. 

Under the influence of this process, there arises a greater activity of 
all the functions at the same time, and, also, a greater strength of 
appetite, and corresponding energy of the digestive powers. The 
process of conversion of food is unusually rapid, the excess going to 
form milk. Where a greater amount is thus formed than is required, 
the system becomes gradually exhausted, even in health. This over- 
production may be due simply to excess of vitality, while it may 
result from the efforts of nature to supply the required material sup- 
port, even under difficulties. The following remedies will be found 
beneficial, as the indications appear : 

Treatment. 

Aconite may be taken as a precautionary measure when there is 
high febrile action of the whole system, and we are ignorant of the 
exciting cause. Dose : Take four globules, repeated at intervals of 
four hours, until the frequency of the pulse is diminished and the 
skin becomes moist. 

Rhus-tox. frequently proves of much service where febrile symptoms 
arise from distention of the breasts, induced by an excessive secretion, 
and indications of what is generally termed milk fever (which, how- 
ever, frequently arises from other causes). Dose: Three globules 
every six hours until amelioration or change. 

Calcarea Carb. should be employed in cases in which excessive dis- 
tention of the breasts, spontaneous emission of milk and loss of flesh 
^cur without any marked and active fever symptoms — or after the 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 267 

previous employment of Aconite or Rhus, when the fever symptoms 
have been allayed. Dose : Six pills as directed for Rhus. 

Phosphorus is of especial value in cases of this kind, when there 
are marked signs of a tendency to consumption, and emaciation takes 
place rapidly. Phosphorous is yet further indicated when there are 
sensations as of a rush of blood, with oppression at the chest, and 
sometimes even short, dry, hacking cough. Dose : Three pills as 
directed for Rhus. 

MILK FEVER. 

The secretion of milk is considered an operation of nature, and not 
9ne that requires medic^il aid for its regulation, but occasionally suffer 
some slight uneasiness for a few days following confinement, and 
when any of the below-mentioned group of symptoms present them- 
selves, the affection is known by the name of Milk Fever. 

Shiverings and heat terminating in perspiration ; the pulse is at first 
weak, changing to various phases (sometimes quick and frequent), at 
others soft and regular ; and, in some instances, the symptoms are 
attended with a drawing pain in the back, extending to the breast, a 
disagreeable taste in the mouth, thirst, oppressive breathing, anxiety, 
headache, etc. 

The exciting causes are neglecting to put the infant to the breast 
.sufficiently early, which allows the absorption of the milk into the 
circulation, causing mental emotions, fright, or excessive talking. 

Treatment. 

Nature herself, if not disturbed by improper treatment, will, in most 
cases, suffice to restore the equilibrium of the system ; should the 
affection become aggravated, we may dread the setting in of puerperal 
fever. 

Aconite must be employed in all instances where considerable fever 
is present, and will usually remove all the symptoms. Dose : Give 
four globules, repeated after the lapse of three hours, if necessary. 

Belladonna is very useful in particular cases in which complica- 
tions with very severe disturbance of the brain, or when inflammatory 



268 DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 

action in the breast may supervene. Dose : Three globules, repeated 
at intervals of four hours, until a degree of improvement sets in, and 
then at intervals of six hours. 

Rhus, is also of considerable service when extreme fullness, tension 
and painfulness of the breasts, with excessive secretion of milk, attend 
the case. Dose : As directed for Belladonna. 

CHILD-BED FEVER— PUERPERAL FEVER. 

The trouble is of so grave a nature that it is with reluctance 
that we approach the subject. Where it is at all possible, we would 
advise a skilled physician to be employed. As this work, however, 
will enter some home where no physician can be procured, it has been 
thought judicious to treat the disease at sufficient length to be avail- 
able in cases of emergency. 

This disease assumes vanous types and degrees, and has received 
various names. Usually the disease begins on the second, third oi 
fourth day, although, in some cases, it even appears later, as late even 
as the eighth or ninth. It sometimes begins with a distinct chill, and, 
again, there may be only slight chilliness, imperfect and merely 
noticed. The pulse is very rapid, full and soft. In some cases, there 
is neither pain, distention nor tenderness of the abdomen ; while in 
others, the pain is very acute, the distention enormous, and the ten- 
derness exquisite. 

Perspiration and Thirst. 

Profuse sweating is a very common and distressing accompaniment 
of this disorder ; the sweating of puerperal fever does not diminish the 
amount of urine, nor abate the quickness of the pulse. An intolerable 
thirst prevails, and the patient drinks immense quantities of whatever 
fluid she may be allowed. Dark spots appear on the wrists or other 
parts of the body. 

At first, the lochia may be unaffected ; they may be even increased 
in quantity, but more commonly they are entirely suppressed. As 
the disease advances, usually about the third day, diarrhoea an/ 
vomiting may supervene. The patient becomes listless and languid 




THE UTERUS (wOMb) AND ARTERIES. 

a, a. The kidneys, b, b. The ureters, c. The uterus, d, d. The broad 
ligaments. e,e. The ovaries. /,/. The Fallopian tubes, g. The rectum 
cut. h. The aorta, i. The superior mesenteric artery divided, k. The 
Inferior mesenteric artery divided. /,/. The renal, w, m. The common 
iliacs. **«, n. The external iliacs. o, o. The internal iliacs. 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 269 

.osing all interest in surrounding circumstances, and even in her child, 
ind the expression of her face indicates anxiety and great prostration ; 
or, on the other hand, she may be unduly excited, nervous and 
tremulous. If the disease progresses in spite of treatment, delirium 
commonly supervenes. Rattling of the breathing, with enormous 
distention of the abdomen, are usually regarded as fatal symptoms. 

Symptoms and Causes. 

As the disease advances, the womb, the peritoneum and other organs, 
and tissues of the abdomen become involved in the prevailing inflam- 
mation. The first symptoms of this disease are similar to those of 
"milk fever," but the distinction is to be made by the fact of absence 
of pain, and more particularly by absence of tenderness in the abdomen. 

This disease may result in consequence of a chill occasioned by a 
draught of air, or other cause, or from the use of damp or wet linens, 
or it may be occasioned by violence ; or, again, it may be impossible 
to assign any reason for its occurrence ; in whic'n case we are led tc 
believe that it is due to infection, or arises in consequence of some 
lurking taint or predisposition of the system. 

Aconite should be employed, at first being indicated by the feeble 
condition, and by other circumstances ; and will in very many instances, 
when promptly administered, particularly in those cases of a more 
simple form, serve to dissipate the entire disordered condition, and 
restore harmony to the system in an almost magical manner. Dose: 
Give four globules every hour, or half hour, according to the severity 
of the symptoms. If, at the end of twelve hours, the symptoms have 
abated, the intervals may be extended two or three hours. 

Belladonna should be administered when the pain is violent and 
cramp-like, coming on suddenly and ceasing as suddenly, with swelling 
of the abdomen ; or the pains are forcing, as if the contents of the 
abdomen would be forced out ; sensitiveness of the belly to the touch — 
she cannot even bear the jar of the bed ; redness of the face and eyes ; 
headache ; Ary mouth with red tongue ; sleeplessness and restiveness ; 
'l^lirious ; suppression of the lochia or escape of red and foetid blood . 



270 iJiSEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 

the breasts are red and inflamed, or swollen and empty. Dose : As 
directed for Aconitum. 

Hyoscyamus may be used in some cases of a similar nature to that 
indicative of Belladonna, but where the disease has been developed,] 
by mental emotions, and is characterized by spasmodic symptoms/ 
jerks and twitches, delirium, throwing off of the bed-clothes, it is 
Tiore particularly indicated. Dose : As for Aconite. 

Rus-tox. is suitable when the fever is of a low typhus grade ; the 
patient is very restless, constantly tossing about. The lochia is again 
tinged with blood, or clots of blood are discharged ; aching soreness 
and stiffness of the limbs ; the tongue is red. Dose : As for Aconite. 

Colocynth will be found valuable when the abdomen is greatly 
distended, and the pains are unbearable, being of a sharp, cutting or 
lancinating character, which cause the patient to draw the thighs up 
as close to the belly as possible ; diarrhoea with colicky pains, agga- 
vated or excited by eating or drinking. Dose : As for Aconite. 

Chamomilla is useful for cases in which the breasts are flaccid and 
without milk ; diarrhoea ; pains in the abdomen like pains of labor ; 
general heat with redness of the face, or one cheek is red, and the 
other is not ; great agitation, impatience and nervous irritability. Dose. 
As for Mercurius. 

Diet and Regimen. 

The most absolute repose of mind and body should be secured ; all 
noise should be shut out, the room darkened and a moderate tempera- 
ture maintained ; the room should be well ventilated, so as to have 
the air changed without admitting a cold draught. Purification of all 
aliment must be enforced, and the thirst allayed by small quantities of 
cold water, which should be iced in summer, or when vomiting is 
present. If the lochia is suppressed, flannels wrung out of warm water 
may be applied to the external genitals, or a tepid injection may be 
thrown into the rectum, if there be great constipation ; but it must be 
a small quantity, that the bowels may not be much disturbed. The 
infant should be removed and fed on cow's milk and water until th» 
patient is out of danger. 



I 



CHAPTER XIX. 
Pregnancy External to the Womb. 

a r jie Occurrence — How the Ovum is Nourished — Causes of Such Conception— 
^ jculiarities of the Cases — Obscure Symptoms — General Treatment — Appear- 
ance of Inflammation — Bursting of the Cyst — Relief for Pain — Opiates and 
Cordials — Operation for Removal of Foetus — Successful Treatment of this 
Peculiar Form of Pregnancy. 

/"XCCASIGNALLY, though fortunately very rarely, after impreg- 
^ nation has occurred, the ovum does not reach the womb, but 
remains either embedded in the ovary, or the Fallopian tube, or 
falls into the general cavity of the abdomen. Being endowed with 
life, it attaches itself to that portion of the mother's body wherever it 
may happen to have lodged, and a communication by vessels is recip- 
rocally effected between the mother's structures and itself. 

By means of these vessels it is nourished, an imperfect placenta 
(afterbirth) is formed, and its increase progresses in as regular, and 
almost as rapid a manner, as though it had been received in<"0 the 
cavity of the womb itself It has been stated by Coste that of all 
animals woman is alone subject to this irregularity ; but this -'s cer- 
tainly erroneous, for it has been known to occur frequently in the 
brute creation. Instances of it have been observed in the cow, sheep, 
bitch, and hare, besides others. 

The Causes. 

It would be idle and unprofitable to speculate dc-oply on tne causes 
that may produce this deviation from nature's established institutions. 
Explanations have been offered, founded on original conformation, 
pathological changes, and accidental occurrences. It has been noticed 
by Breschet and Campbell that the womb of the infant frequently 
possesses somewhat of a bifurcated or forked formation, such as is 
natural to the monkey, and in a more striking degree to th-^ female 
quadruped ; and others have observed it in the adult subject 

271 



272 PREGNANCY EXTERNAL TO THE WOMB. 

This anotomical formation has been supposed to favor the produc- 
tion of tubal or parietal extra- womb impregnation. But almost all 
the cases on record have occurred to women who had previously borne 
a family ; and we should presume, if such a shape of the womb 
disposed to it, that it would be more frequently met with in first 
pregnancies. 

Again, a morbid condition of that Fallopian tube through which the 
3vum is passing, has been supposed to explain it ; such as an imper- 
vious state taking place after conception ; a contraction of its calibre, 
owing to engorgement of its lining membrane, or spasm of its fibres, 
or paralysis affecting its structure ; and it has been attributed to disease 
existing in the coats of the ovum itself. 

Peculiarities of the Cases. 

Among the accidental occurrences much importance has been 
attached to mental agitation on the part of the woman, while in the 
enjoyment of the conjugal embrace ; and some cases are recorded, in 
ivhich this irregularity has followed a shock or surprise received in 
coition. Thus a case by the late Baudelocque was supposed to have 
depended on the woman's hearing somebody trying to enter the 
apartment. 

Another very similar is also reported ; and a third where the woman 
experienced much alarm by a stone being thrown through the window 
of her chamber during the time of connection ; but it is very doubtful 
whether such a cause could produce the effect now under considera- 
tion. The fact, however, of a large relative proportion of unmarried 
females having become the subjects of the complaint, would afford 
3ome foundation for the idea that such persons are more liable to be 
afflicted with extra uterine gestations than women of regular habits 

and steady character. 

The Symptoms. 

The symptoms are at first very indefinite and obscure ; they are 
generally those of incipient pregnancy; the menses become suppressed; 
the breasts enlarge ; and the areolae are more evident ; there is morn- 



PREGNANCY EXTERNAL TO THE WOMB. 



273 



ing sickness ; but more local pain is ^elt ; and this pain is referred to 
one point of the side, mostly low down, within one or other ilium. 
It may depend on inflammation, or perhaps, which is more probable, 
on the cyst not yielding kindly to the growing ovum. 

In some instances, indeed, the patients have enjoyed uninterrupted 




EXTRA-UTERINE PREGNANCY. 

t. The thickened wall of the womb. d. Original position of the foetus, c. Sac ' 

containing foetus. 

good health, until a period nearly approaching the full term of healthy 
gestation, but this is not common. If the child continues to live it 
quickens ; but the motion is also felt more on one side than the other, 
and is usually attended with much suffering ; the patient increases in 
?ize, and is satisfied she is pregnant. Sometimes the child's limbs can 
18 



274 PREGNANCY EXTERNAL TO THE WOMB. 

be traced through the walls of the abdomen, especially in conception 
of the belly. 

The monthly periods have been known to continue with regularity 
for the first five or six months ; but more usually, when there has 
been any colored discharge from the vagina, it has appeared at uncer- 
tain intervals, has consisted of blood, has been profuse in quantity, 
and attended with the expulsion of clots ; sometimes, indeed, with 
masses of fleshy substances that have been mistaken for moles, or 
with portions of what has been considered the afterbirth. These 
phenomena have given rise to the belief that the patients had miscar- 
ried. The bowels are usually constipated after four or five months, 
and the urine is passed frequently and with pain. 

"When Inflammation Sets In. 

On making an examination through the vagina, the mouth of the 
womb may be raised so high by a portion of the child's body occupy- 
ing the pelvis, as to be beyond the reach of the finger ; and if it can 
be touched, the womb will be found unimpregnated, though rather 
larger and heavier than in its virgin state ; with the cervix not at all, 
or but slightly, developed. A foot or hand, or the head of the child^ 
or some other portion of its body may occasionally be felt through 
the coats of the vagina. After the child's death, and when the 
efforts made by the uterus to expel it have ceased, which are evi- 
denced by spasmodic pains, accompanied by some sanguineous dis- 
charge, milk is generally secreted in the breasts ; the abdomen after 
a time diminishes somewhat in size ; and the tumor may remain with- 
out any alteration in its volume, producing little or no distress. 

If putrefaction, however, takes place, symptoms of general abdomi- 
nal inflammation supervene ; and when the ulcerative process is estab- 
lished, it is attended with extreme depression, small quick pulse, hurried 
and painful respiration, entire loss of appetite, great emaciation, hectic 
fever, absence of sleep, vomiting and purging. Together with the 
^ces, pus and large quantities of the most offensive putrid matter, 
are trom U«3;e to time evacuated. 



PREGNANCY EXTERNAL TO THE WOMB. 275 

This may, perhaps, give the first indication of the true nature of 
the case ; and the patient's size diminishes in proportion as the evacua- 
tions are copious. Should she bear up against the weakening effects 
of such destructive actions, the whole contents of the sac will be 
expelled, the time occupied varying exceedingly ; and when they have 
entirely passed the healing process is set up, and the patient may be 
restored to comparative health. 

Sometimes there is but one communication established with the ali- 




POSITION OF FCETUS OUTSIDE THE WOMB. 

LTientary canal, at others there are two or three ; sometimes, also, 
ulceration takes place between the sac and the uterus or vagina ; 
at others, again, the adhesion is formed between the sac and the 
abdominal parietes, the contents point as an abscess, and are evacuated 
externally. We are pretty well persuaded that those cases on record^ 
in which it is supposed that a foetus lay for an indefinite period in the 
womb without being expelled or that it had died in the womb, and 
had made its way in time outvv^ardly by ulceration, were, indeed 
instances of different varieties of extra-uterine gestation. 



276 PREGNANCY EXTERNAL TO THE WOMB. 

Should the cyst burst, a very different train of symptoms from 
those above mentioned show themselves. It is probable that the 
patient may have considered she was advancing in healthy pregnancy, 
and no indication may have appeared to lead to the knowledge that 
this serious irregularity existed, beyond some occasional pains that 
coidd not easily be accounted for ; when she is suddenly seized with 
the most violent cramp in the side of the abdomen, bearing more the 
character of colic than any other kind of pain. 

The symptoms, indeed, of hemorrhage, one after the other, appear 
(in addition to the excruciating abdominal suffering), until she sinks, 
within a few hours of the rupture taking place ; for very rarely, 
indeed, has recovery happened under such circumstances. We can- 
not be surprised at the violence of the symptoms, when we reflect 
that they are occasioned by the combined influence of internal hem- 
orrhage, laceration, and the effusion of a large quantity of blood into 
the delicate and highly-sensitive peritoneal cavity. 

Directions for Treatment. 

Our treatment must depend entirely on the symptoms, and must be 
directed towards the relief of pain, and assisting nature in her efforts 
to get rid of the offending mass. The bladder must be particularly 
attended to. The pain may be relieved by opiates, and nature may 
be assisted in keeping up the strength by tonic medicines, good diet 
and cordials, during the process of putrefaction and ulceration. 
Should any of the bones, in their passage through the rectum, 
become fixed in that bowel, which is very likely to happen with the 
broad bones of the skull, the femur and some others, they may be 
carefully removed, either by the fingers or a pair of forceps. 

It has been recommended — the child being still alive — that an inci- 
sion should be made, either through the vagina upon the head, 
breech or foot (provided either of these parts could be felt low down 
in the pelvis, and the nature of the case admitted of no doubt), or 
through the abdominal muscles ; and that the child should be 
extracted by the forceps or hand, for the sake of its preservation. 



PART III. 

Care and Management of 
Children, 

CHAPTER XX. 
Ablution and Clothing. 

Every Child Should be Its Mother's Care— The Babe a '* Well-spring of Pleasure ** 
— Directions for Bathing — Prevention of Colds — Skin Eruptions — Free Use of 
Water — Cleanliness and Health — Treatment for Chafings — Bad Effects of 
Soda in the Laundry — Proper Time for Bathing the Infant — The Flannel 
Apron — Clothing — Material for the Belly-band — Light Dressing — Warmth a 
First Requisite — Danger of Convulsions — How Clothes Should be Fastened — 
Keeping the Head Cool — Clothing for Winter. 

THE care and management, and consequently the health and future 
well-doing of the child, principally devolve upon the mother ; 
** for it is the mother after all that has most to do with the mak 
ing or marring of the man." Dr. Guthrie justly remarks that—'* Moses 
might have never been the man he was unless he had been nursed by his 
own mother. How many celebrated men have owed their greatness 
and their goodness to a mother's training ! " 

Napoleon owed much to his mother. " The fate of a child," said 
Napoleon, *' is always the work of his mother;" and this extraordi- 
nary man took pleasure in repeating, that to his mother he owed his 
elevation. All history confirms this opinion. The character of the 
mother influences the children more than that of the father, because 
k is more exposed to their daily, hourly observation. 

We are not overstating the importance of the subject in hand when 
we say, that a child is the most valuable treasure in the world, lha( 
•*he is the precious gift of God," that he is the source of a mother'9 

277 



278 ABLUTION AND CLOTHING. 

greatest and purest enjoyment, that he is the strongest bond of afFec* 
tion between her and her husband, and that 

" A babe in a house is a well-spring of pleasure, 
A messenger of peace and love." 

We have, in the writing of the following pages, had one object con- 
stantly in view — namely, health— 

* ' That salt of life, which does to all a relish give, 
Its standing pleasure, and intrinsic wealth, 
The body's virtue, and the soul's good fortune — health/* 

If the following pages insist on the importance of one of a mother's 
duties more than another it is this — that the mother herself look well 
into everything appertaining to the management of her own child. 

Blessed is that mother among mothers of whom it can be said that 
" she hath done what she could " for her child—for his welfare, for 
his happiness, for his health. For if a mother hath not '* done what 
she could for her child" — mentally, morally and physically — woe 
betide the unfortunate little creature ; better had it been for him had 
he never been born. 

Temperature of the Water. 

It is not an uncomm.on plan to use cold water for the babe from, the 
first, under the impression of its strengthening the child. This appears 
to be a cruel and barbarous practice, and is likely to have a contrary 
tendency. Moreover, it frequently produces either inflammation of 
the eyes, or stuffing of the nose, or inflammation of the lungs, oi 
looseness of the bowels. Although we do not approve of cold water, 
we ought not to run into an opposite extreme, as hot water would 
weaken and enervate the babe, and thus would predispose him to 
disease. Lukewarm rain-water will be the best to wash him with. 
This, if it be summer, should have its temperature gradually lowered, 
until it be quite cold ; if it be winter, a dash of warm water ought still 
to be added, to take off the chill. (By thermometer = 90 to 92 
degrees.) 

It will be necessary to use soap, white Castile soap being the best 



ABLUTION AND CLOTHING. 279 

jbr the purpose, it being less irritating to the skin than the ordinary 
Boap. Care should be taken that it does not get into the eyes, as i{ 
may produce either inflammation or smarting of those organs. If the 
skin be delicate, or if there be any excoriation or *' breaking-out " on 
the skin, then glycerine soap instead of the Castile soap ought to be 
used. 

A mother should comm_ence washing her infant either in the tub or 
in the nursery basin, as soon as the navel-string comes away. Do not 
be afraid of water— and that in plenty — as it is one of the best 
strengtheners to a child's constitution. How many infants suffer from 
excoriation for the want of water ! 

A piece of flannel is, for the first part of the washing, very useful^ — 
that is to say, to use with the soap, and to loosen the dirt and the 
perspiration; but for the finishing-up process a sponge — a large 
sponge — is superior to fl_annel to wash all away and to complete the 
bathing. A sponge cleanses and gets into all the nooks, corners and 
crevices of the skin. Besides sponge, to finish up with, is softer and 
more agreeable to the tender skin of a babe than flannel. Moreover, 
sponge holds more water than flannel, and thus enables you to stream 
the water more effectually over him. A large sponge will act like a 
miniature shower-bath, and will thus brace and strengthen him. 

To Prevent Taking Cold. 

To prevent a new-born babe from catching cold, it is not necessary 
to wash the head with brandy. The idea that it will prevent cold is 
erroneous, as the rapid evaporation of heat which the brandy causes is 
more likely to give than to prevent cold. 

That tenacious paste-like substance, adhering to the skin of a new- 
born babe, should be washed off at the first dressing, provided it be 
done with a soft sponge and with care. If there be any difficulty in 
removing the substance, gently rub it, by means of a flannel, either 
with a little lard, or fresh butter, or sweet-oil. After the parts have 
been well smeared and gently rubbed with the lard, or oil, or butter, 
let all be washed off together, and be thoroughly cleansed away, by 



280 ABLUTION AND CLOTHING. 

means of a sponge and soap and warm water, and then, to complete 
the process, gently put him for a minute or two in his tub. If this 
paste-like substance be allowed to remain on the skin, it might produce 
either an excoriation, or a ** breaking-out." Besides, it is impossible, 
if that tenacious substance be allowed to remain on it, for the skin to 
perform its proper functions. 

Thorough Washing from Head to Foot. 

A babe ought, every morning of his life, to be thoroughly washed 
from head to foot ; and this can only be properly done by putting him 
bodily either into a tub or into a bath, or into a large nursery-basin, 
half-filled with water. The head, before placing him in the bath, 
should be first wetted (but not dried) ; then immediately put him into 
the water, and, with a piece of flannel, well soaked, cleanse his whole 
body, particularly his arm-pits, between his thighs, his groins, and his 
hams ; then take a large sponge in hand, and allow the water from it, 
well filled, to stream all over the body, particularly over his back and 
loins. 

Let this advice be well observed, and you will find the plan most 
strengthening to your child. The skin must, after every bati;, be 
thoroughly but quickly dried with warm, dry, soft towels, first envel- 
oping the child in one, and then gently absorbing the moisture with 
the towel, not roughly scrubbing and rubbing his tender skin as though 
a horse were being rubbed down. 

The ears must, after each ablution, be carefully and well dried with 
a soft, dry napkin ; inattention to this advice has sometimes caused a 
gathering in the ear — a painful and distressing complaint ; and at other 
times it has produced deafness. 

Directly after the infant is dried, all the parts that are at all likely lo 
be chafed ought to be well powdered. After he is well dried and 
powdered, the chest, the back, the bowels, and the limbs should be 
gently rubbed, taking care not to expose him unnecessarily during 
such friction. 
' He ought to be partially washed every evening ; indeed, it may he 



ABLUTION AND CLOTHING. 281 

necessary to use a sponge and a little warm water frequently during 
the day, namely, each time after the bowels have been relieved. 
Cleanliness is one of the grand incentives to health, and therefore can- 
not be too strongly insisted upon. If more attention were paid to this 
subject, children would be more exempt from chafings, " breakings- 
out," and consequent suffering, than they at present are. After the 
second month, if the babe be delicate, the addition of two handfuls of 
table-salt to the water he is washed with in the morning will tend to 
brace and strengthen him. 

The Powder to be Used. 

With regard to the best powder to dust an infant with, there is 
nothing better for general use than starch — the old-fashioned starch 
made of wheaten flour — reduced by means of a pestle and mortar to 
a fine powder ; or Violet Powder, which is nothing more than finely 
powdered starch scented, and which may be procured of any respect- 
able druggist. Some others are in the habit of using white lead ; but 
as this is a poison, it ought on no account to be resorted to. 

If the parts about the groin and fundament be excoriated, what is 
then the best application ? After sponging the parts with tepid rain- 
water, holding him over his tub, and allowing the water from a well- 
filled sponge to stream over the parts, and then drying them Avith ? 
soft napkin (not rubbing, but gently dabbing with the napkin), there is 
nothing better than dusting the parts frequently with finely powdered 
Native Carbonate of Zinc-Calamine Powder. 

Warding Off Skin Diseases. 

Remember excoriations are generally owing to the want of water- 
to the want of an abundance of water. An infant who is every morn- 
ing well soused and well swilled with water seldom suffers either from 
excoriations, or from any other of the numerous skin diseases. Clean- 
liness, then, is the grand preventative of, and the best remedy for 
excoriations. Naaman, the Syrian, was ordered " to wash and be 
clean," and he was healed, " and his flesh came again like unto th^ 



282 ABLUTION AND CLOTHING. 

*iesh of a little child, and he was clean." This was, of course, a 
miracle ; but how often does water, without any special intervention, 
act miraculously both in preventing and in curing skin diseases. 

An infant's clothes, napkins especially, ought never to be washed 
with soda; the washing of napkins with sodais apt to produce excoria- 
tions and breakings-out. As washerwomen often deny that they use 
soda, it can be easily detected by simply soaking a clean white napkin 
in fresh water and then tasting the water ; if it be brackish and saltj 
soda has been employed. 

The Mother the Best Nurse. 

The proper person to wash and dross the babe is the monthly nurst^ 
as long as she is in attendence ; but afterwards the mother, unless she 
should happen to have an experienced, sensible, thoughtful nurse, 
which, unfortunately, is seldom the case. 

A good, thick, soft flannel — usually called bath-coating — apron, 
made long and full, and which, of course, ought to be well dried every 
time before it is used, is the best for bathing. 

Let the infant, by all means, then, as soon as the navel-string has 
separated from, the body, be bathed either in his tub, or in his bath, or 
in his large nursery-basin ; for if he is to be strong and hearty, in the 
water every morning he must go. The water ought to be slightly 
warmer than new milk. It is dangerous for him to remain for a long 
period in his bath ; this, of course, holds good in a tenfold degree, if 
the child have either a cold or pain in his bowels. Take care that, 
immediately after he comes out of his tub, he is well dried with v^arm 
towels. 

Right Time for Bathing. 

It is well to let him have his bath the first thing in the morning, and 
before he has been put to the breast ; let him be washed before he has 
his breakfast ; it will refresh him and give him an appetite. Besides, 
he ought to have his morning ablution on an empty stomach, or it may 
interfere with digestion, and might produce sickness and pain. In 
putting him in his tub, let his head be the first part washed. We ali 



ABLUTION AND CLOTHING. 283 

know, that in bathing in the sea, or in fresh water, how much better 
we can bear the water if we first wet our head ; if we do not do so, we 
feel shivering and starved and miserable. Let there be no dawdling 
in the washing ; let it be quickly over. When he is thoroughly dried 
with warm, dry towels, lei him be well rubbed with the warm hand of 
the mother or of the nurse. 

As we previously recomm.ended, while drying him and while rub- 
bing him, let him repose and kick and stretch either on the warm 
flannel apron, or else on a small blanket placed on the lap. One 
bathing in the tub, and that in the morning, is sufficient, and better than 
night and morning. During the day, as we before observed, he may, 
after the action either of his bowels or of his bladder, require several 
spongings of lukewarm water, for cleanliness is a grand incentive to 
health and comeliness. 

Rem.em.ber it is absolutely necessary to every child from, his earliest 
babyhood to have a bath, to be im_mersed every m^orning of his life in 
the water. This advice, unless in cases of severe illness, admits of no 
exception. Water to the body — to the whole body — is a necessity of 
life, of health, and of happiness ; it wards off disease, it braces the 
nerves, it hardens the fram.e, it is the finest tonic in the world. If 
every mother would follow to the very letter this counsel, how much 
misery, how much ill-health might then be averted. 

Clothing for the Infant. 

Flannel instead of musHn for the belly-band is to be preferred, for 
two reasons— first, on account of its keeping the child's bowels com- 
fortably warm, and secondly, because of its not chilling him (and 
thus endangering cold, etc.) when he w^ets himself. The belly-band 
ought to be moderately, but not tightly applied, as if tightly applied, 
it would interfere with the necessary movement of the bowels. 

The belly-band should be discontinued when the child is two or 
three months old. The best way of leaving it off is to tear a strip off 
daily for a few mornings, and then to leave it off altogether. Nurses^ 
vho take charge of an infant are frequently in the habit of at once 



284 ABLUTION AND CLOTHING. 

leaving off the belly-band, which often leads to ruptures when the 
rhild cries or strains. It is far wiser to retain it too long than toa 
dHort a time, and when a child catches whooping-cough, whilst still 
very young, it is safer to resume the belly-band. 

A babe's clothing ought to be light, warm, loose and free from 
pins. It should be light, without being too airy. Many infant's 
clothes are both too long and too cumbersome. It is really painful 
to see how some poor little babies are weighed down with a weight of 
clothes. They may be said to " bear the burden," and that a heavy 
one, from the very commencement of their lives. How absurd, too, 
the practice of making thenv wear long clothes. Clothes to cover a 
child's feet, and even a little beyond, may be desirable ; but for 
clothes, when the infant is carried about, to reach to the ground, is 
foolish and cruel in the extreme. 

Warmth a Chief Requisite. 

A babe's clothing should be warm, without being too warm. The 
parts that ought to be kept warm are the chest, the bowels and the 
feet. If the infant be delicate, especially if he be subject to inflam- 
mation of the lungs, he ought to wear a fine flannel, instead of his 
usual shirts, which should be changed as frequently. The dress 
should be loose, so as to prevent any pressure upon the blood-vessels, 
which would otherwise impede the circulation, and thus hinder a 
proper development of the parts. It ought to be loose about the 
chest and waist, so that the lungs and the heart may have free play. 
It should be loose about the stomach, so that digestion may not be 
impeded ; it ought to be loose about the bowels, in order that the 
spiral motion of the intestines may not be interfered with — hence the 
importance of putting on a belly-band moderately slack ; it should be 
loose about the sleeves, so that the blood may course, without let or 
hindrance, through the arteries and veins ; it ought to be loose, then, 
everywhere, for nature delights in freedom from restraint, and will 
resent, sooner or later, any interference. 

As few pins should be used in the dressing of a baby as possible 



ABLUTION AND CLOTHING. 285 

Inattention to this advice has caused many a Httle sufferer to be thrown 
into convulsions. 

The generality of mothers use no pins in the dressing of their 
children ; thev tack every part that requires fastening with a needle 
and thread. They do not even use pins to fasten the baby's diapers. 
They make the diapers with loops and tapes, and thus altogether 
supersede the use of pins in the dressing of an infant. The plan is a 
■good one, takes very little extra time, and deserves to be universally 
adopted. If pins be used for the diapers, they ought to be the Patent 
Safety Pins. 

Is there any necessity for a nurse being particular in airing an 
infant's clothes before they are put on ? If she were less particular, 
would it not make him more hardy? 

A nurse cannot be too particular on this head. A babe's clothes 
ought to be well aired the day before they are put on, as they should 
not be put on warm from the fire. It is well, where it can be done, 
to let him have clean clothes daily. Where this cannot be afforded, 
the clothes, as soon as they are taken off at night, ought to be well 
aired, so as to free them from the perspiration, and that they may be 
ready to put on the following morning. It is truly nonsensical to 
endeavor to harden a child, or any one else, by putting on damp 
clothes. 

Keep the Head CooL 

The head ought to be kept cool ; caps, therefore, are unnecessary. 
If caps be used at all, they should only be worn for the first month 
in summer, or for the first two or three /tionths in winter. If a 
babe take to caps, it requires care in leaving them off, or he will catch 
cold. When you are about discontinuing them, put a thinner ana a 
thinner one on every time they are changed, until you leave them off 
altogether. But remember, our opinion is that a child is better with- 
out caps ; they only heat his head, cause undue perspiration, and thus 
make him more liable to catch cold. 

In winter-time when a child is out for exercise, be sure that he is 
•^11 wrapped up. He ought to have under his cloak a knitted 



286 ABLUTION AND CLOTHING. 

worsted jacket, which should button behind ; and if the weather bv 
ver>' cold, a shawl over all ; and, provided it be dry above, and the 
wind be not in the east or in the northeast, he may then brave the 
weather. He will then come from his walk refreshed and strength- 
ened, for cold air is an invigorating tonic. 

At what age ought an infant's clothing to be shortened? This, of 
course, will depend upon the season. In the summer, the right ^vme 
*' for shortening a babe," as it is called, is at the end of two months ; 
in the winter, at the end of three months. But if the right time for 
" shortening " a child should happen to be in the spring, let it be 
deferred until May. The springs are very trying and treacherous, 
and sometimes in April the weather is almost as cold and the wind as 
biting as m Avinter. It is treacherous, for the sun is hot, and the 
wind, which is at this time of the year frequently easterly, is keen and 
cutting. We would far prefer " to shorten " a child in the winter than 
in the early spring. 



CHAPTER XXL 
Diet for the Infant. 

i^way witli Gruel—When the Tongue is Tied — First Food for the Infant— Both 
Breasts to be Drawn Alike — Too Frequent Nursing — Artificial Food— A Simple 
Preparation— Foods of Various Kinds — Baked Flour — Bread Crumbs — Oatmeal 
— Pulp of Rice — Foods Containing Starch— Arrow-root — New Milk — When ta 
Give Farinaceous Food — How Digestion is Aided — Salt and Sugar — Weak 
Mothers — No Real Substitute for Mother's Milk — Nursing and the Mother's 
Health — Care of the Feeding-bottle — Flatult;nce — ^Time for Weaning — Gin and 
Peppermint— Diet Versus Physic. 

TT N infant ought to be put to the breast soon after birth — the 

J~\ interest, both of the mother and of the child, demands it. It 

will be advisable to wait three or four hours, that the mother 

may recover from her fatigue, and then the babe must be put to the 

breast. If this be done, he will generally take the nipple with avidity. 

It might be said, at so early a period, that there is no milk in the 
breast ; but such is not usually the case. There generally is a little 
from the very beginning, which acts on the baby's bowels like a dose 
of purgative medicine, and appears to be intended by nature to cleanse 
the system. But,'provided there be no milk at first, the very act of 
sucking not only gives the child a notion of sucking, but, at the same 
time, causes a draught (as it is usually called) in the breast, and enables 
the milk to flow easily. 

Of course, if there be no milk in the breast — the babe having been 
applied once or twice to determine the fact — then you must wait for 
a few hours before applying him again to the nipple, that is to say, 
until the milk be secreted. 

An infant, who, for two or three days, is kept from the breast, and 
who is fed upon gruel, generally becomes feeble, and frequently, at 
the end of that time, will not take the nipple at all. Besides, there 1^ 
a thick cream which, if not drawn out by the child, may cause inflam^ 
mation and gathering of the breast, and consequently great suffering 

287 



288 DIET FOR THE INFANT. 

to the mother. Moreover, placing him early to the breast, moderates 
the severity of the mother's after-pains, and lessens the risk of her 
flooding. A new-born babe must not have gruel given to him, as it 
disorders the bowels, causes a disinclination to suck, and thus makes 

him feeble. 

Tongue-Tied Infants. 

If an infant show any disinclination to suck, or if he appear unable to 
apply his tongue to the nipple, immediately call the attention of the 
doctor to the fact, in order that he may ascertain whether the child be 
tongue-tied. If he be, the simple operation of dividing the bridle of 
the tongue will remedy the defect, and will cause him to take the 
nipple with ease and comfort. 

Provided there be not milk at first, wait with patience ; the child (if 
the mother have no milk) will not, for at least twelve hours, require 
artificial food. In the generality of instances, then, artificial food is 
\ot at all necessary ; but if it should be needed, one-third of new milk 
ind two-thirds of warm water, slightly sweetened with loaf sugar (or 
with brown sugar, if the babe's bowels have not been opened), should 
be given, in small quantities at a time, every four hours, until the milk 
be secreted, and then it must be discontinued. The infant ought to 
be put to the nipple every four hours, but not oftener, until he be able 
to find nourishment. 

If, after the application of the child for a few times, he is unable to 
find nourishment, then it will be necessary to wait until the milk be 
secreted. As soon as it is secreted, he must be applied with great 
regularity, alternately to each breast. 

"We say alternately to each breast. This is most important advice. 
Sometimes a child, for some inexplicable reason, prefers one breast to 
the other, and the mother, to save a little contention, concedes the 
point, and allows him to have his own way. And what is frequently 
the consequence ? A gathered breast. We frequently hear of a babe 
having no notion of sucking. This ''no notion" may generally be 
traced to bad management, to stuffing him with food, and thus giving 
kim a disinclination to take the nipole at all. 



j^m 



DIET FOR THE INFANT. 289 

A mother generally suckles her baby too often, having him almost 
constantly at the breast. This practice is injurious both to parent and 
to child. The stomach requires repose as much as any other part of 
the body ; and how can it have if it be constantly loaded with breast- 
milk ? For the first month, he ought to be suckled about every hour 
and a half; for the second month, every two hours — gradually increas- 
ing, as he becomes older, the distance of time between, until at length 
he has it about every four hours. 

If a baby were suckled at stated periods, he would only look for 
the breast at those times, and be satisfied. A mother is frequently in 
the habit of giving the child the breast every time he cries, regardless 
of the cause. The cause too frequently is, that he has been too often 
suckled — his stomach has been overloaded ; the little fellow is conse- 
quently in pain, and he gives utterance to it by cries. How absurd is 
such a practice ! We may as well endeavor to put out a fire by feed- 
ing it with fuel. An infant ought to be accustomed to regularity in 
everything, in times for sucking, for sleeping, etc. No children thrive 
60 well as those who are thus early taught. 

Artificial Food. 

Where the mother is moderately strong artificial food must not, for 
the first five or six months, be given ; of course, if she be feeble, a 
little food will be necessary. Many delicate women enjoy better 
health whilst suckling than at any other period of their lives. 

It may be well, where artificial food, in addition to the mother's 
own milk, is needed, and before giving any farinaceous food whatever 
(for farinaceous food until a child is six or seven months old is injuri- 
ous), to give, through a feeding-bottle, every night and morning, in 
addition to the mother's breast of milk, the following Milk-Watcr-and- 
Sugar-of-Milk Food : 

Fresh milk, from on:^ cow ; 

Warm water, of each a quarter of a pint, 

Sugar-of-milk, one teaspoonful. 

The sugar-of-milk should first be dissolved in the warm water, and 
19 



290 DIET FOR THE INFANT. 

then the fresh milk, unboiled, should be mixed with it. The sweeten- 
ing of the above food with sugar-of-milk^ instead of with lump sugar, 
makes the food more to resemble the mother's own milk. The infant 
will not, probably, at first take more than half of the above quantity 
at a time, even if he does so much as that ; but still the above are the 
proper proportions ; and as he grows older, he will require the whok 
of it at a meal. 

Substitutes for Breast Nourishment. 

What food, when a babe is six or seven months old, is the best sub- 
stitute for a mother's milk ? 

The food that suits one infant will not agree with another. The 
one most generally useful is made as follows : Boil the crumb of 
bread for two hours in water, taking particular care that it does not 
burn ; then add only a little lump sugar (or brown sugar, if the bowels 
be costive) to make it palatable. When he is six or seven months 
old, mix a little new milk — the milk of one cow — with it gradually as 
he becomes older, increasing the quantity until it be nearly all milk, 
there being only enough water to boil the bread ; the milk should be 
poured boiling hot on the bread. 

Sometimes the two milks — ^the mother's and the cow's milk — do 
not agree ; when such is the case, let the milk be left out, both in this 
and in the foods following, and let the food be made with water, instead 
of with milk and water. In other respects, until the child is weaned, 
let it be made as above directed ; when he is weaned, good fresh cow's 
milk MUST, as previously recommended, be used. 

Or cut thin slices of bread into a basin, cover the bread with cold 
water, place it in an oven for two hours to bake ; take it out, beat the 
bread up with a fork, and then slightly sweeten it. This is an excel- 
lent food. 

Another good food is the following : Take about a pound of flour, 
put it in a cloth, tie it up tightly, place it in a saucepanful of water, 
and let it boil for four or five hours ; then take it out, peel off the 
outer rind, and the inside will be found quite dry, which grate. 



DIET FOR THE INFANT. 291 

Another way of preparing an infant's food, is to bake flour — biscuit 
flour — in a slow oven, until it be of a light fawn color. Baked flour 
ought, after it is baked, to be reduced, by means of a rolling-pin, to a 
fine powder, and should then be kept in a covered tin, ready for use. 

An excellent food for a baby is baked crumbs of bread. The 
manner of preparing it is as follows : Crumb some bread on a plate ; 
put it a little distance from the fire to dry. When dry, rub the 
crumbs in a mortar, and reduce them to a fine powder ; then pass 
them through a sieve. Having done which, put the crumbs of bread 
into a slow oven, and let them bake until they be of a light fawn color. 
A small quantity either of the boiled, or of the baked flour, or of the 
baked crumb of bread, ought to be made into food, in the same way 
as gruel is made, and should then be slightly sweetened, according to 
the state of the bowels, either with lump or with brown sugar. 

Nourishing and Delicious. 

Baked flour sometimes produces constipation ; when such is the 
case, an excellent authority wisely recommends a mixture of baked 
flour and prepared oatmeal, in the proportion of two of the former and 
one of the latter. He says : ^' To avoid the constipating effects, I have 
always had mixed, before baking, one part of prepared oatmeal with 
two parts of flour ; this compound I have found both nourishing and 
regulating to the bowels. One tablespoonful of it mixed with a 
quarter of a pint of milk, or milk and water, when well boiled, flavored 
and sweetened with white sugar, produces a thick, nourishing and 
delicious food for infants or invalids." 

He goes on to remark : '* I know of no food, after repeated trials, 
that can be so strongly recommended by the profession to all mothers 
in the rearing of their infants, without or with the aid of the breasts, at 
the same time relieving them of much draining and dragging whilst 
nursing with an insufficiency of milk, as baked flour and oatmeal." 

An excellent food may be made with rusks, boiled for an hour in 
water, which ought then to be well beaten up by means of a fork, 
and slightly sweetened with lump sugar. 



292 DIET FOR THE INFANT. 

Another is, the top crust of a baker's loaf, boiled for an hour in 
water, and then moderately sweetened with lump sugar. It, at any 
time, the child's bowels should be costive, raw must be substituted for 
lump sugar. 

Good wheat flour will also be found suitable. Francatelli, Queen 
Victoria's cook, gives the following formula for making it : *' To one 
dessertspoonful of the flour, mixed with a wineglassful of cold water, 
add half a pint of boiling water ; stir over the fire for five minutes ; 
sweeten lightly, and feed the baby ; but if the infant is being brought 
up by the hand, this food should then be mixed with milk — not 
otherwise." 

Rice Recomniended. 

The following is a good and nourishing food for a baby : Soak for 
an hour some best rice in cold water ; strain, and add fresh water to 
the rice ; then let it simmer till it will pulp through a sieve ; put the 
pulp and the water in a saucepan, with a lump or two of sugar, and 
again let it simmer for a quarter of an hour ; a portion of this should 
be mixed with one-third of fresh milk, so as to make it of the con- 
sistence of good cream. This is an excellent food for weak bowels. 

When the baby is six or seven months old, new milk should be 
added to any of the above articles of food, in a similar way to that 
recommended for boiled bread. 

For a delicate infant, lentil powder is invaluable. It ought to be 
made into food, with new milk, in the same way that arrow-root is 
made, and should be moderately sweetened with loaf sugar. What- 
ever food is selected ought to be given by means of a nursing-bott!e. 

If a child's bowels be relaxed and weak, or if the motions be offen- 
sive, the milk must be boiled, but not otherwise. The following is a 
good food when an infant's bowels are weak and relaxed : Into five 
large, spoonfuls of the purest water, rub smooth one dessertspoonful of 
fine flour. Set over the fire five spoonfuls of new milk, and put two 
bits of sugar into it ; the moment it boils, pour into it the flour and 
water, and stir it over a slow fire twenty minutes. 

Where there is much emaciation, we have found genuine arrow- 



DIET FOR THE INFANT. 293 

root a very valuable article of food for an infant, as it contains a great 
deal of starch, which starch helps to form fat and to evolve caloric 
(heat), both of which a poor, emaciated, chilly child stands so much 
in need of. It must be made with equal parts of water and of good 
fresh milk, and ought to be slightly sweetened with loaf sugar ; a 
small pinch of table salt should be added to it. 

Arrow-root will not, as milk will, give bone and muscle, but it will 
give — what is veiy needful to a delicate child — fat and warmth. 
Arrow-root, as it is principally composed of starch, comes under the 
same category as cream, butter, sugar, oil and fat. Arrow-root, then, 
should always be given with new milk (mixed with one-half of water) ; 
it will then fulfill, to perfection, the exigencies of nourishing, of 
warming and fattening the child's body. 

New milk, composed in due proportions, as it is, of cream and of 
skim milk — the very acme of perfection— is the only food which, of 
itself alone, will nourish and warm and fatten. It is for a rhild, par 
excellence, the food of foods. Arrow-root and all other farinaceoui 
foods are for a child only supplemental to milk — new milk being fo! 
the young the staple food of all kinds of foods whatever. 

Age of the Child Must be Considered. 

But bear in mind, and let there be no mistake about it, that farina- 
ceous food, be it what it may, until the child bq six or seven months 
old — until, indeed, he begin to cut his teeth — is not suitable for a child ; 
until then, the milk-water-salt-and-sugar food, already recommended, 
is usually, if he be a dry-nursed child, the best artificial food for him. 
We have given you a large and well-tried infant's dietary to choose 
from, as it is sometimes difficult to fix on one that will suit ; but, 
remember, if you find one of the above to agree, keep to it, as a babe 
requires a simplicity in food — a child a greater variety. Let us, in 
this place, insist upon the necessity of great care and attention being 
observed in the preparation of any of the above articles of diet. A 
babe's stomach is very delicate, and will revolt at either ill-made cr 
lumpy or burnt food. Great care ought to be observed as to tb^^ 



294 DIET FOR THE INFANT. 

cleanliness of the cooking utensils. The above directions require the 
strict supervision of the mother. 

Broths have been recommended, but, for our own part, we think- 
that for a young infant they are objectionable ; they are apt to turn 
acid on the stomach, and to cause flatulence and sickness ; they, 
sometimes, disorder the bowels and induce griping and purging. 

How Food is to be Given. 

Whatever artificial food is used ought to be given by means of a 
bottle, not only as it is a more natural way than any other of feeding 
a baby, as it causes him to suck as though he were drawing it from 
the mother's breasts, but as the act of sucking causes the salivar}/' 
glands to press out their contents, which materially assist digestion. 
Moreover, it seems to satisfy and comfort him more than it other- 
wise would do. 

The food ought to be of the consistence of good cream, and 
should be made fresh. It ought to be given milk-warm. Attention 
must be paid to the cleanliness of the vessel, and care should be 
taken that the milk be that of one cow, and that it be new and of 
good quality ; for, if not, it will turn acid and sour, and disorder the 
stomach, and will thus cause either flatulence or looseness of the 
bowels, or, perhaps, convulsions. The only way to be sure of having 
it from one cow is (if you have not a cow of your own) to have the 
milk from a respectable dairy, and to have it brought to your house 
in a can of your own. The better plan is to have two cans, and to 
have the milk fresh every night and morning. The cans, after each 
time of using, ought to be scalded out, and, once a week, the can 
should be filled with cold water, and the water should be allowed to 
remain in it until the can be again required. 

The Kind of Seasoning. 

Very little sugar should be used in the food, as much sugar weakens 
the digestion. A small pinch of table-salt ought to be added to what- 
ever food is given, as "the best savor is salt." Salt is most whole- 



DIET FOR THE INFANT. 295 

some ; it strengthens and assists digestion, prevents the formation of 
worms, and, in small quantities, may with advantage be given (if 
artificial food be used) to the youngest baby. 

Where it is found to be absolutely necessary to give an infant artifi- 
cial food whilst suckling, hovr often ought he to be fed ? 

Not oftener than twice during the twenty-four hours, and then only 
irt small quantities at a time, as the stomach requires rest, and, at the 
same time, can manage to digest a little food better than it can a great 
deal. Let us again urge upon you the importance, if it be at all 
practicable, of keeping the child entirely to the breast for the first five 
or six months of his existence. Remember, there is no real substitute 
for a mother's milk ; there is no food so well adapted to his stomach; 
there is no diet equal to it in developing muscle, in making bone, or 
in producing that beautiful, plump, rounded contour of the limbs ; there 
is nothing like a mother's milk alone in making a child contented and 
happy, in laying the foundation of a healthy constitution, in preparing 
the body for a long life, in giving him tone to resist disease, or in 
causing him to cut his teeth easily and well ; in short, the mother's 
milk is the greatest temporal blessing an infant can possess. 

Delicate Mothers. 

As a general rule, therefore, when the child and the mother are 
tolerably strong, he is better Avithout artificial food until he have 
attained the age of three or four months ; then, it will usually be 
necessary to feed him with the mllk-water-and-sugar-of-milk food 
twice a day, so as gradually to prepare him to be weaned (if possible) 
at the end of nine months. 

When the mother is not able to suckle her infant herself, what ought 
to be done ? 

It must first be ascertained, beyond all doubt, that a mother is not able 
to suckle her own child. Many delicate ladies do suckle their infants 
with advantage, not only to their offspring, but to themselves. *' I 
will maintain," says Steele, ''that the mother grows stronger by it, 
and will have her health >>^tter than she would have otherwise. Her 



296 DIET FOR THE INFANT. 

children will be Vke giants, whereas otherwise they are but living 
shadows, and like unripe fruit ; and certainly if a woman is strong 
enough to bring forth a child, she is, beyond all doubt, strong enough 
to nurse it afterwards." 

Nursing is a Healthy Process. 

Many mothers are never so well as when they are nursing ; besideS, 
suckling prevents a lady from becoming pregnant so frequently as she 
otherwise would. This, if she be delicate, is an important considera- 
tion, and more especially if she be subject to miscarry. The effects of 
miscarriage are far more weakening than those of suckling. 

If it be ascertained, past all doubt, that a mother cannot suckle her 

child, then, if the circumstances of the parents will allow — and they 

ought to strain a point to accomplish it — a healthy wet-nurse should 

be procured, as, of course, the food which nature has supplied is far, 

very far, superior to any invented by art. Never bring up a baby, then, 

if you can possibly avoid it, on artificial food. Remember, there is in 

early infancy no real substitute for either a mother's or a wet-nurse's 

milk. It is impossible to imitate the admirable and subtle chemistry 

of nature. The law of nature is, that a baby, for the first few months 

of his existence, shall be brought up by the breast ; and nature's la-v* 

cannot be broken with impunity. It will be imperatively necessary 

then — 

"To give to nature what is nature's due." 

Again, in case of a severe illness occurring during the first nine 
months of a child's life, what a comfort either the mother's or the 
wet-nurse's milk is to him ; it often determines whether he shall live 
or die. But if a wet-nurse cannot fill the place of a mother, then 
ass's milk will be found the best substitute, as it approaches nearer, 
in composition, than any other animal's to human milk ; but it is both 
Viifficult and expensive to obtain. The next best substitute is goat's 
milk. Either the one or the other ought to be milked fresh, and fresh 
when wanted, and should be given by means of a feeding-bottle. 
Ass's milk is more suitable food for a delicate infant. 



DIET FOR THE INFANT. 297 

If neither ass's milk nor goat's milk can be procured, then the 
following milk-water-salt-and-sugar food, from the very commence- 
ment, should be given : 

New milk, the product of one healthy cow ; 

Warm water, of each, equal parts ; 

Table-salt, a few grains — a small pinch ; 

lyump sugar, a sufficient quantity to slightl}" sweeten it 

The milk itself ought not to be heated over the lire, but should, as 
above directed, be warmed by the water ; it must, morning and even- 
insT, be had fresh. The milk and water should be of the same tern- 
perature as the mother's milk, that is to say, at about ninety degrees 
Fahrenheit. It ought to be given by means of a fseding-bottle, and 
care must be taken to scald the bottle out twice a day, for if attention 
be not paid to this point, the delicate stomach of an infant is soon 
disordered. The milk should, as he grows older, be gradually 
increased and the water decreased, until two-thirds of milk and one- 
third of water be used ; but remember, that either much or little water 
must always be given with the milk. 

Where the above food does not agree (and no food except a healthy 
mother's own milk does invariably agree), substitute sugar-of-milk for 
the lump sugar, in the proportion of a teaspoonful of sugar-of-milk 
to eveiy half-pint of food. 

How to Prepare the Milk. 

If your child bring up his food, and if the ejected matter be sour^ 
smelling, we would advise you to leave out the sugar-of-milk alto- 
gether, and simply to let the child live, for a few days, on milk and 
water alone, the milk being of one cow, and in the proportion of two- 
thirds to one-third of warm water — not hot water ; the milk should 
not be scalded with hot water, as it injures its properties ; besides, it 
is only necessary to give the child his food with the chill just off. The 
above food, where the stomach is disordered, is an admirable one, and 
will often set the child to rights without giving him any medicine 
whalv^ver. Moreover, there is plenty of nourishment in it to make 



298 DIET FOR THE INFANT. 

the babe thrive ; for after all it is the milk that is the important 
ingredient in all the foods of infants ; they can live on it, and on it 
alone, and thrive amazingly. 

The reason of farinaceous food making babes, until they have 
commenced cutting their teeth, *' windy," is that the starch of the 
farinaceous food (and all farinaceous foods contain more or less of 
starch) is not digested, and is not, as it ought to be, converted by the 
saliva into sugar; hence, "wind" is generated, and pain and convul- 
sions often follow in the train. 

As Near as Possible to Nature. 

The great desideratum, in devising an infant's formula for food, is to 
make it, until he be nine months old, to resemble as much as possible 
a mother's own milk ; and which our formula, as nearly as is practi- 
cable, does resemble ; hence its success and popularity. As soon as 
a child begins to cut his teeth the case is altered, and farinaceous food, 
with milk and with water, becomes an absolute necessity. 

We wish, then, to call your especial attention to the following facts, 
for they are facts : Farinaceous foods of all kinds, before a child com- 
mences cutting his teeth (which is when he is about six or seven 
months old) are worse than useless — they are positively injurious ; 
they are, during the early period of infant life, perfectly indigestible, 
and may bring on — which they frequently do — convulsions. A babe 
fed on farinaceous food alone would certainly die of starvation ; for 
up to six or seven months of age, infants have not the power of 
digesting farinaceous or fibrinous substances. 

A babe's salivary glands, until he be six or seven months old, does 
not secrete its proper fluid — namely, ptyalin — and consequently the 
starch of the farinaceous food, and all farinaceous food contains 
starch, is not converted into dextrine and grape-sugar, and is, there- 
fore, perfectly indigestible and useless — nay, injurious to an infant, 
and may bring on pain and convulsions, and even death ; hence, the 
giving of farinaceous food, until a child be six or seven months old, is 
one of the principal causes of infant mortality. 



DIET FOR THE INFANT. 299 

In passing, allow us to urge you never to stuff a babe — never 
to overload his little stomach with food ; it is far more desirable 
to give him a little less than enough, than to give him a little too 
much. Many a poor child has been, like a young bird, killed with 
stuffing. If a child be at the breast, and at the breast alone, there is 
no fear of his taking too much ; but if he be brought up on artificial 
food, there is great fear of his overloading L^o o_omach. Stuffing a 
child brings on vomiting and bowel complaints, and a host of other 
diseases which now it would be tedious to enumerate. Let us, then, 
urge you on no account to overload the stomach of a little child. 

It is a common practice for a mother to cram herself with food, and 
to take strong ale to drink, to make good nourishment and plentiful 
milk. This practice is absurd ; for it either, by making her feverish 
makes the milk more sparing than usual, or it causes the milk to be 
gross and unwholesome. On the other hand, we must not run into 
an opposite extreme. The mother, by using those means most con- 
ducive to her own health, will best advance the interest of her little 
charge. 

It is a common remark that " a mother who is nursing may eat 
anything." We do not agree with this opinion. Can impure or 
improper food make pure and proper milk, or can impure and 
improper milk make good blood for an infant, and thus good health ? 

Directions for Weaning. 

The time for weaning must depend both upon the strength of the 
child, and upon the health of the parent ; on an average, nine months 
is the proper time. If the mother be delicate, it may be found neces- 
sary to wean the infant at six months ; or if he be weak, or laboring 
under any disease, it may be well to continue suckling him for twelve 
months ; but after that time, the breast will do him more harm than 
good, and will, moreover, injure the mother's health, and may, if she 
be so predisposed, excite consumption. 

How should a mother act when she weans her child ? She ought 
to do it gradually — that is to say, she should, by degrees, give him 



300 DIET FOR THE INFANT. 

less and less of the breast, and more and more of artificial food ; at 
length she must only suckle him at night ; and, lastly, it would be 
well for the mother either to send him away, or to leave him at home, 
and, for a few days, to go away herself. 

A good plan is, for the nurse-maid to have a half-pint bottle of new 
milk — which has been previously boiled — in the bed, so as to give a 
little to him in lieu of the breast. The warmth of the body will keep 
the milk at a proper temperature, and will supersede the use of lamps, 
of candle-frames, and of other troublesome contrivances. 

A Vicious Practice. 

If a child be suffering severely from ** wind," it is a bad practice to 
add either gin or peppermint of the shops (which is oil of peppermint 
dissolved in spirits) to his food. Many children have, by such a prac- 
tice, been made puny and delicate, and have gradually dropped into 
an untimely grave- An infant who is kept, for the first five or six 
months, entirely xo the breast — more especially if the mother be 
careful in her own diet — seldom suffers from "wind;" those, on the 
contrary, who have much or improper food, suffer severely. 

Care in feeding, then, is the grand preventative of '* wind ;" but if, 
notwithstanding all your precautions, the child be troubled with flatu- 
lence, the treatment recommended under the head of Flatulence, in a 
subsequent chapter, will generally answer the purpose. 

A small quantity of sugar in an infant's food is requisite, sugar 
being nourishing and fattening, and making cow's milk to resemble 
somewhat in its properties human milk ; but, bear in mind, it must be 
used sparingly. Much sugar cloys the stomach, weakens the diges* 
tion, produces acidity, sour belchings and wind : 

** Things sweet to taste prove in digestion sour." 

If a babe's bowels be either regular or relaxed, lump sugar is the 
best for the purpose of sweetening his food ; if his bowels are inclined 
to be costive, raw sugar ought to be substituted for lump sugar, as 
raw sugar acts on a young babe as an aperient, and, in the generality 
of cases, is far preferable to physicking him with opening medicine. 



CHAPTER XXII. 
Teething. 

Infants Sometimes Bom with Teeth — Proper Time for Teething to Commence— 
Length of Time in Cutting — Lancing the Gums — Mode of Operation— Infantile 
Convulsions — Gums Injured by Various Substances — Rubber and Leather 
Rings — Sucking the Thumb — Diet of Fruit — Ailments During Teething — Pain- 
ful Dentition — Mild Form — Treatment Recommended — The Tepid Bath — Re- 
laxed Bowels — The ''Tooth Cough" — Disastrous Effects of Opiates— Laudanum 
and Paregoric — Swollen Gums — Pain and Inflammation — Skin Blotches — 
Second Teeth — Parental Neglect. 

THE period at which dentition or teething commences is uncertain. 
It may, as a rule, be said that a babe begins to cut his teeth at 
seven months old. Some have cut teeth at three months ; in- 
deed, there are instances on record of infants having been born with 
teeth. King Richard the Third is said to have been an example. 
Shakespeare notices it thus : 

** York. — Marry, they say my uncle grew so fast, 

That he could gnaw a crust at two hours old. 
'Twas full two years ere I could get a tooth. 
Grandam, this would have been a biting jest." 

When a babe is born with teeth, they generally drop out. On the 
other hand, teething, in some children, does not commence until they 
are a year and a half or two years old, and, in rare cases, not until 
they are three years old. There are cases recorded of adults who 
have never cut any teeth. Dentition has been known to occur in old 
age. A case is recorded by M. Carre, in the Gazette Medicate de Paris, 
September 15, i860, of an old lady, aged eighty-five, who cut several 
teeth after attaining that age. 

The first or temporary set consists of twenty. The first set of teeth 
are usually cut in pairs. Says that eminent authority, Sir Charles 
Locock : " I may say that nearly invariably the order is — first, the 
lower front incisors [cutting teeth], then the upper front, then the 
upper two lateral incisors, and that not uncommonly a double tooth is 

301 



302 TEETHING. 

cut before the two lower laterals ; but at all events the lower laterals 
come seventh and eighth, and not fifth and sixth, as nearly all books 
on the subject testify." 

Then the first grinders, in the lower jaw, afterwards the first upper 
grinders, then the lower corner-pointed or canine teeth, after which 
the upper corner or eye-teeth, then the second grinders in the lower 
jaw, and lastly, the second grinders of the upper jaw. They do not, 
of course, always appear in this rotation. Nothing is more uncertain 
than the order of teething. A child seldom cuts his second grinders 
until after he is two years old. He is usually, from the time they first 
appear, two years in cutting his first set of teeth. As a rule, there- 
fore, a child two '^ears old has sixteen, and one two years and a half 
old, twenty teeth. 

Lrancing the Gums. 

If an infant be either feverish or irritable, or otherwise poorly, and 
if the gums be hot, swollen, and tender, it may be necessary (not 
always) to have them lanced. By doing so the child will, in the 
generality of instances, be almost instantly relieved. 

It has been stated that lancing the gums hardens them. This is a 
mistake — it has a contrary effect. It is a well-known fact that a part 
which has been divided gives way much more readily than one which 
has not been cut. Again, the tooth is bound down by a tight mem- 
brane, which, if not released by lancing, frequently brings on convul- 
sions. If the symptoms be urgent, it may be necessary from time to 
time to repeat the lancing. It would, of course, be the height of 
folly to lance the gums unless they be hot and swollen, and unless the 
tooth, or the teeth, be near at hand. It is not to be considered a 
panacea for every baby's ill, although, in those cases where the lancing 
of the gums in indicated, the beneficial effect is sometimes almost 
magical. 

Directions for Cutting the Gums. 

The proper person, of course, to lance his gums is the physician. 
But if, perchance, you should be miles away and be out of the reach 
of one, it would be well for you to know how the operation ought to 



TEETHING. 30.^ 

be performed. Well, then, let him lie on the nurse's lap upon his 
back, and let the nurse take hold of his hands in order that he may 
not interfere with the operation. 

Then, if it be the upper gum that requires lancing, 5/ou ought to go 
to the head of the child, looking over, as it were, and into his mouth, 
and should steady the gum with the index finger of your left hand ; 
then, you should take hold of the gum-lancet with your right hand- 
holding it as if it were a table-knife at dinner — and cut firmly along 
the inflamed and swollen gum and down to the tooth, until the edge 
of the gum-lancet grates on the tooth. Each incision ought to extend 
along the ridge of the gum to about the extent of each expected tooth. 

Not a Difficult Operation. 

If it be the lower gum that requires lancing, you must go to the 
side of the child, and should steady the outside of the jaw with the 
fingers of the left hand, and the gum with the left thumb, and then 
you should perform the operation as before directed. Although the 
lancing of the gums, to make it intelligible to a non-professional 
person, requires a long description, it is, in point of fact, a simple 
affair, is soon performed, and gives but little pain. 

A single word with reference to lancing the gums. This operation 
is, in almost all cases, unnecessarily performed, and in many cases it 
proves positively injurious. And yet it sometimes affords the most 
important and immediate relief Where the gums are red and inflamed, 
in our opinion they never need to be lanced, but only when in their 
very slow growth they have changed to a dense, firm, and unyielding 
cartilaginous formation, thick and of a whitish color, through which the 
teeth vainly attempt to make their way, and the irritation of the child's 
system threatens to destroy its life by sheer exhaustion, or by inducing 
fatal covulsions. 

How to Treat Convulsions. 

If teething cause convulsions the first thing to be done, after send- 
ing for the doctor, is to freely dash water upon the face and to sponge 
the head with cold water, and as soon as warm water can be procured, 



304 TEETHING. 

to put him into a warm bath of 98 degrees Fahrenheit. If a ther- 
mometer be not at hand, you must plunge your own elbow into the 
water ; a comfortable heat for your elbow will be the proper heat 
for the infant. He must remain in the bath for a quarter of an hour, 
or until the fit be at an end. 

The body must, after coming out of the bath, be wiped with warm 
and dry and coarse towels ; he ought then to be placed in a warm 
blanket. The gums must be lanced, and cold water should be applied 
to the head. An enema, composed of table-salt, of olive oil, and 
warm oatmeal gruel — in the proportion of one tablespoonful of salt to 
one of oil, and a teacupful of gruel — ought then to be administered, 
and should, until the bowels have been well opened, be repeated every 
quarter of an hour. 

It may be well, for the comfort of a mother, to state that a child in 
convulsions is perfectly insensible to all pain whatever ; indeed, a return 
to consciousness speedily puts convulsions to the rout. 

Gums Injured by Hard Substances. 

We think it a bad practice to give a child any hard, unyielding sub- 
stance, as it tends to harden the gums, and, by so doing, causes the 
teeth to come through with greater difficulty. Softer substances, such 
as either a piece of wax taper, or an india-rubber ring, or a piece of 
the best bridle leather, or a crust of bread, are of great service. If a 
piece of crust be given as a gum-stick, he must, while biting it, be 
well watched, or by accident he might loosen a large piece of it, which 
might choke him. The pressure of any of these excites a more rapid 
absorption of the gum, and thus causes the tooth to come through 
more easily and quickly. 

There is an unfounded prejudice against a child's sucking its thumb. 
The thumb is the best gum-stick in the world ; it is convenient, it is 
handy (in every sense of the word), it is of the right size, and of the 
proper consistence, neither too hard nor too soft ; there is no danger, 
as of some artificial gum-sticks, of its being swallowed, and thus of 
its choking the child. 



TEETHING. 305 

The sucking of the thumb causes the salivary glands to pour out 
tneir contents, and thus not only to moisten the dry moutn, but assist 
the digestion ; the pressure of the thumb eases, while the teeth are 
"breeding" the pain and irritation of the gums, and helps, when the 
teeth are sufficiently advanced to bring them through the gums. 
Sucking of the thumb will often make a cross infant contented and 
happy, and will frequently induce a restless babe to fall into a sweet 
refreshing sleep. Truly may a thumb be called a baby's comfort. 

How the Habit May be Cured. 

But if an infant be allowed to suck his thumb, will it not be likely 
to become a habit, and stick to him for years — until, indeed, he 
become a big boy ? 

After he has cut the whole of his first set of teeth, that is to say, 
when he is about two years and a half old, he might, if it be likely to 
become a habit, be readily cured by the following method, namely, by 
making a paste of aloes and water, and smearing it upon his thumb. 
One or two dressings v/ill suffice, as, after just tasting the bitter aloes, 
he will take a disgust to his former enjoyment, and the habit will at 
once be broken. 

Many persons have an objection to children sucking their thumbs, 
as for instance : 

' ' Perhaps it's as well to keep children from plums, 
And from pears in the season, and sucking their thumbs." 

Our reply is : 

P'rhaps 'tis as well to keep children from pears; 
The pain they might cause, is oft followed by tears ; 
'Tis certainly well to keep them from plums ; 
But certainly not from sucking their thumbs I 

If a babe suck his thumb 

'Tis an ease to his gum ; 
A comfort ; a boon ; a calmer of grief; 
A friend in his need — affording relief; 
A solace ; a good ; a soother of pain ; 
A composer to sleep ; a cham. and a gain. 
20 



306 TEETHING. 

'Tis handy, at once, to his sweet mouth to glide ; 
When done with, drops gently down by his side ; 
'Tis fixed like au anchor, while the babe sleeps, 
And the mother, with joy, her still vigil keeps. 

A child who is teething dribbles, and thereby wets his chest, which 
frequently causes him to catch cold. Have in readiness to put on 
several flannel dribbling-bibs, so that they may be changed as often as 
they become wet ; or, if he dribble very much, the oiled-silk driobling- 
bibs, instead of flannel ones, may be used, and which may be procured 
at any baby- linen warehouse. 

Effect of Fruit upon the Child. 

In teething, give no fruit, unless it be a few ripe strawberries or 
raspberries, or a roasted apple, or the juice of five or six grapes — 
taking care that he does not swallow either the seeds or the skin — or 
the inside of an orange. Such fruits, if the bowels be in a costive 
state, will be particularly useful. 

All stone fruit, raw apples or pears, ought to be carefully avoided, 
as they not only disorder the stomach and the bowels — causing convul- 
sions, gripings, etc. — but they have the effect of weakening the bowels. 

Is a child, during teething, more subject to disease, and, if so, to 
what complaints, and in what manner may they be prevented ? 

The teeth are a fruitful source of suffering and of disease, and are 
with truth styled ''our first and our last plagues." Dentition is the 
most important period of a child's life, and is the exciting cause of 
many infantile diseases ; during this period, therefore, he requires 
constant and careful watching. When we consider how the teeth 
elongate and enlarge in his gums, pressing on the nerves and on the 
surrounding parts, and thus how frequently they produce pain, irrita- 
tion and inflammation ; when we further comtemplate what sympathy 
there is in the nervous system, and how susceptible the young are to 
p lin, no surprise can be felt at the immense disturbance, and the con- 
sequent suffering and danger frequently experienced by children while 
cutting their first set of teeth. 



TEETHING. 307 

The complaints or the diseases induced by dentition are number- 
less, affecting almost every organ of the body — the brain, occasioning 
convulsions, water on the brain, etc. ; the lungs, producing conges- 
tion, inflammation, cough, etc. ; the stomach, exciting sickness, 
flatulence, acidity, etc. ; the bowels, inducing griping, at one time 
costiveness, and at another time purging ; the skin, causing *' break- 
ings-out." 

To prevent these diseases, means ought to be used to invigorate a 
child's constitution by plain, wholesome food, as recommended under 
the chapter on diet : by exercise and fresh air ; by allowing him, 
weather permitting, to be out of doors a great part of every day ; by 
lancing the gums only as above directed ; by attention to the bowels, 
and if he suffer more than usual, by keeping them rather in a relaxed 
state by any simple aperient ; and, let us add, by attention to his 
temper ; many children are made feverish and ill by petting and 
spoiling them. 

Painful Teething. 

Painful dentition may be divided into two forms — (i) the mild, and 
(2) the severe. In the mild form the child is peevish and fretful, and 
puts his fingers, and everything within reach, to his mouth ; he likes 
to have his gums rubbed, and takes the breast with avidity ; indeed, 
it seems a greater comfort to him than ever. There is generally a 
considerable flow of saliva, and he has frequently a more loose state 
of bowels than is his wont. 

Now, with regard to the more severe form of painful dentition : 
The gums are red, swollen and hot, and he cannot, without express- 
ing pain, bear to have them touched ; hence, if he be at the breast, he 
is constantly losing the nipple. There is dryness of the mouth, 
although before there had been a great flow of saliva. He is fever^ 
ish, restless, and starts in his sleep. His face is flushed. His head 
is heavy and hot. He is sometimes convulsed. He is frequentlj 
violently griped and purged, and suffers severely from flatulence. He 
is predisposed to many and severe diseases. The young of animals 
seldom suffer from cutting their teeth — and what is the reason I 



308 TEETHING. 

Because they live in the open air, and take plenty of exercise ; while 
children are frequently cooped up in close rooms, and are not allowed 
the free use of their limbs. 

Remedies Recomniended. 

The treatment of the mild form of painful dentition consists of fric- 
tion of the gum with the finger ; a tepid-bath of about 92 degrees 
Fahrenheit, every night at bedtime ; attention to diet and to bowels ; 
fresh air and exercise. For the mild form, the above plan will usually 
be all that is required. If he dribble, and the bowels be relaxed, so 
much the better ; the flow of saliva and the increased action of the 
bowels afford relief, and, therefore, must not be interfered with. In 
the mild form, lancing of the gums is not desirable. The gums ought 
not to be lanced, unless the teeth be near at hand, and unless the 
gums be red, hot, swollen and hard. 

In the severe form a doctor should be consulted early, as more 
energetic remedies will be demanded ; that is to say, the gums will 
require to be freely lanced, warm baths to be used, and medicines to 
be given, to ward off mischief from the head, from the chest, and from 
the stomach. 

If you are living in the town, and your baby suffers much from 
teething, take him into the country. It is wonderful what change of 
air to the country will often do in relieving a child who is painfully 
cutting his teeth. The number of deaths in cities, from teething, is 
frightful ; it is in the country comparatively trifling. 

Nature Tries to Take Care of Itself. 

Relaxation of the bowels should be looked upon as an effort of 
nature to relieve itself A child is never purged without a cause; 
that cause, in the generality of instances, is the presence of either 
some undigested food, or acidity, or depraved motions, that want 
a vent. 

If we lock up the bowels, we confine the enemy, and thus produce 
mischief If he be purged more than usual, attention should be paid 



TEETHING. 30& 

to the diet — if it be absolutely necessary to give him artificial food 
while suckling — and care must be taken not to overload the stomach. 
A child is subject to a slight cough during dentition — called by 
nurses " tooth-cough " — which a parent would not consider of suffi- 
cient importance to consult a doctor about, but do not give any nar- 
cotic, any opiate. 

^Vhat the Cough Means. 

A cough is an effort of nature to bring up any secretion from the 
lining membrane of the lungs, or from the bronchial tubes, hence it 
ought not to be interfered with. We have known the administration 
of syrup of white poppies, or of paregoric, to stop the cough, and 
thereby to prevent the expulsion of the phlegm, and thus to produce 
either inflammation of the lungs or bronchitis. Moreover, both pare- 
goric and other narcotics are, for a young child, dangerous medicines 
(unless administered by a judicious doctor), and ought never to be 
given by a mother. 

Bear in mind that the development of teeth in their regular order, 
although a perfectly natural process, is often attended with much 
suffering. When dentition is slow, retarded and difficult, it not only 
becomes of itself a serious disorder, but it involves also a long train 
of morbid symptoms and actual diseases which may exhaust the 
patient's strength, and finally destroy its life. The primary difficulty 
in such cases is in the nutrition, and as we often see in older children 
a remarkable backwardness in the development of the osseous (bone) 
system in general, so we often find in earlier periods of infantile life a 
corresponding slowness in the development of the teeth. And both 
these forms of imperfect development, occurring, as they often do, 
successively in the same children, are to be attributed to some pro- 
found constitutional taint which affects the nutrition. 

Swollen and Painful Gums. 

In some few cases the teeth come through so readily as to scarcely 
disturb the infant ; but more frequently, indeed, the mouth becomes 
hot and the gums look tumid, tense and shining, while the exact 



310 TEETHING. 

position of the tooth is marked sometimes before its appearance, by 

the prominence of the gum ; or the irruption of the teeth is preceded 

or accompanied by a somewhat different condition of the mouth, in 

which there is much heat and intense redness of the mucous ' leni- 

brane, an extremely copious flow of saliva, and a disposition to the 

formation of small aphthous ulcers on the tongue and on the inside of 

the lips, though the gums themselves may not be particularly swollen 

and painful. 

Either of these states is usually attended with some degree of febrile 

disturbance, and apparently with considerable suffering to the infant, 

who is constantly fretful and peevish, or cries out occasionally as if in 

pain. A third morbid condition of the mouth is sometimes seen, 

which is usually ushered in or attended by very considerable fever. 

The gums then become extremely hot and swollen, and unusually 

tender, especially over some tooth or other in particular; and in that 

situation we find the gum swollen up into a kind of little tumor. 

Small unhealthy ulcerations with a sloughy appearance often form 

upon the summit of the gum, and especially around any tooth which 

has partially pierced through it. To this affection, which is often very 

painful and difficult of cure, the name of odontitis infantum has been 

applied. 

Teetli a Natural Growth. 

The tooth does not mechanically cut its way out of the gum, but 
its growth causes slight pressure by the crown of the tooth, a pres- 
sure which excites the absorbents to remove the impediment. In 
this manner, the absorbents do absolutely, when the infant is in a 
perfectly healthy condition, open up the way for the tooth to escape 
without pain or suffering. 

Now, the duty of the physician, or the one acting as such^ is so to 
direct the course of events, that the evolution of the teeth shall 
become as painless as any other process of development. All the 
laws of health should be rigidly enforced, and every prescription care- 
fully made, and, finally, when the period of dentition fairly commences, 
if difficulty arises, remedies should be administered* 



TEETHING. 311 

A child who is teething is subject to a "breaking-out," more 
especially behind the ears, which is most disfiguring, and frequently- 
very annoying. 

Apply no external application to cure it, as you should look upon 
it as an effort of the constitution to relieve itself; and should expect, 
if the *' breaking-out " were repelled, that either convulsions, or 
bronchitis, or inflammation of the lungs, or water on the brain, would 
be the consequence. The only plan to adopt is to be more careful in 
his diet ; to give him less meat (if he be old enough to eat animal 
food), and regulate his bowels ; and, if the irritation from the *' break- 
ing-out " be great, to bathe it, occasionally, either with a little warm 
milk and water, or with rose-water. 

Second Teeth. 

Generally at about the age of seven a child cuts his second set of 
teeth. He begins to cut them at about that time ; but it should be 
borne in mind that the second crop of teeth, in embryo, is actually 
bred and formed from the very commencement of his life, under the 
first tier of teeth, but which remain in abeyance for years, and do not 
come into play until the first teeth, having done their duty, loosen and 
fall out, and thus make room for the more numerous, larger, stronger, 
and more permanent teeth, which latter have to last for the remainder 
of his existence. The first set is sometimes cut with a great deal of 
difficulty, and produces various diseases ; the second, or permanent 
teeth, come easily, and are unaccompanied with any disorder. 

We would recommend you to pay particular attention to the teeth 
of your children ; for, besides their being ornamental, their regularity 
and soundness are of great importance to the present as well as to the 
future health of your offspring. If there be any irregularity in the 
appearance of the second set, lose np time in consulting an experiencecj 
^d reputable dentist. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 
Diseases of Children. 

Inflammation of the Eyes — Hiccough and its Treatment — Snuffles, or Cold in the 
Head — Remedies for Cold — Colic and What to Do for It — Rules for Diet — In- 
digestion and Vomiting — Flatulence — Milk-crust, or Scabs — Thrush, and How 
to Overcome It — Costiveness — Diarrhoea — Cholera Infantum — A Dangerous 
Ailment — Full List of Remedies for Summer Complaint — Alarming Symptoms 
— Stupor and Convulsions — Standard Treatment — Asthma — Result of Cold — 
Importance of Prompt Relief — Vaccination — Transmission of Disease — Vacci- 
nation Should be Repeated. 

NEWBORN infants and other children are subject to purulent oph- 
thalmia, or inflammation of the eyes. This disorder is always 
more or less serious, for, unless speedily cured, the inflamma- 
tion may result in ulceration, and the contents of the eyeballs be dis» 
charged, causing permanent deformity as well as hopeless blindness. 
The first indication of the disease is, generally, the eyelids becoming 
glued together during sleep, with redness and swelling externally. 

The causes are : sudden exposure to the light of day, to cold, or the 
glare of a lamp or fires. Many cases of inflammation of the eyes 
occur in babes whose mothers are affected with leucorrhoea ; therefore, 
we must conclude a discharge from the genitals of the mother is a 
very frequent cause of ophthalmia in newborn infants, or it is some- 
times epidemic, and no doubt many children who are what is com- 
monly called "born bhnd," owe their misfortune to the neglect of 
proper precaution, in many cases the external indications of this afleo 
tion being so slight as to escape observation. 

The eye is an organ so delicate, and the importance of proper, 
judicious treatment for any of its ailments is so great, that a skillful 
oculist should at all times be consulted. The treatment should be in 
part constitutional, removing all causes that impair the general health 
of the child. Indeed, this is an invariable rule in the effort to remedy 
any local ailment. The trouble can often be made to disappear wher 
312 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 313 

good general health is established. The following remedies, however, 
may, with safety, be used in cases of ophthalmia : 

Aconite should be administered as soon as we become aware of the 
existence of this evil ; a few doses will generally be found sufficient 
to subdue this affection in all mild cases. Dose : Two pills every four 
hours. 

Belladonna. The eyes look very red ; cannot bear the light ; open- 
ing the eyes only when in a dark place. This remedy is good to 
alternate with Aconite. Dose : As for Aconite. 

HICCOUGH. 

This affection, though in itself of slight importance, frequently 
causes a considerable degree of uneasiness to the young mother. It 
generally arises from exposure of the body, even in a warm room, to 
currents of air, even during the operation of dressing and undress- 
ing the newborn child. 

Wrapping the infant warm in bed, or better still, applying it to the 
breast, will generally lead to a cessation of the affection ; should it, 
however, continue, the administration of a small quantity of white 
sugar, as much as tvUI cover the end of a teaspoon, dissolved in a tea- 
spoonful of water, will frequently effectually remove the evil. 

Nux Vomica. Two pills placed in the mouth of the infant will 
arrest the trouble, if the other advice should fail. 

Allopathic Treatment. 

Hiccough is generally relieved by a sudden arrest of the attention, 
as by a reproof or a sudden expression of great surprise. Hot cloth* 
wrung out of warm or hot water may be continually applied, or a 
mustard and flaxseed poultice laid over the region of the diaphragm. 
The common internal remedies are cold water, snow, pounded ice oi 
ice cream. Anodyne and antispasmodic drugs are useful in this as in 
other coughs. 

A combination of Chloral, Bromide of Potassium, with or without 
an opiate, is generally effectual. Take of Hydrate of Chloral and 



814 DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 

Bromide of PotassVim and Bicarbonate of Potash, one scruple, 

Paregoric, two drachms. Peppermint Water sufficient to make two 

ounces. Mix. Dose : A teaspoon, half full, to a dessertspoonful, 

every two or three hours. Obstinate cases will require professional 

advice. 

SNUFFLES, OR COLD IN THE HEAD. 

Snuffles, or cold in the head, is one of the earliest and most common 
affections of the young infant. It consists of an inflammation of the 
mucous lining of the nose. The first that is known of it \^^ that the 
infant's nose is stopped up so as to hinder its breathing, hindering it 
in the action of sucking, by not allowing the breath to pass througl 
the nostrils, obliging the infant to release the nipple in order to 
breathe, causing it to become fretful and irritable. 

While this state continues, it has its influence against the infant's 
thriving, both by hindering it from taking a sufficient amount of nour- 
ishment, and by annoying the breathing of the child so as to disturb 
its sleep. When the nose is dry while administering a remedy, to 
remove the evil, relief may be obtained by oiling the nose on the out- 
side and by using a feather or camel' s-hair pencil on the inside. 
Fresh lard, goose grease, cream, or a little breast milk will often afford 

grateful relief. 

Treatment. 

Aconite. This remedy, if administered at first, when there are 
febrile indications, will often cut short an attack of snuffles. Dose : 
Two globules every two hours. 

Nux. The trouble is worse at night, particularly toward morning 
or in the morning. Through the night the nose is very dry. Dose: 
As for Aconite. 

Euphrasia. Profuse, fluent discharge and acrid discharge from the 
eyes ; the eyes are much involved. Dose : As for Aco7tite. 

Chamomilla. Where there is watery or mucus discharge ; the 
child is quieted by carrying it up and down the room. One cheek 
red the other pale. Dose : As for Aconite. 

Pulsatilla is indicated by thick, green or yellow bloody matter, like 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 315 

discharge from the nose, attended with frequent sneezing. Worse 
towards evening. Dose : As for Aconite. 

Allopathic Treatment. 

Cold in the head generally requires but little more than maintaining 
an equal temperature for a few days, when it naturally subsides. It is 
necessary to keep the nostrils open that the child may nurse. 

For this purpose, the nostrils may be moistened with Glycerine; 
applied with a camel' s-hair pencil. Nurses are in the habit of pro- 
voking sneezing by dropping milk into the nostril, so clearing it out, 
and smearing the nose with Olive or Almond Oil. A very useful 
application when the discharge tends to continue, is Tannin, fifteen 
grains, Fluid Extract of Belladonna, twenty drops. Glycerine, two 
drachms. Mix, and apply with a camel's-hair pencil, two or four times 
a day, after first cleansing the nostril with a camel's-hair brush and 
warm water. 

If the discharge is offensive, a solution of one or two grains of Per- 
inanganate of Potash to the ounce should be used to cleanse the 
nostril. In chronic cases, the above mixture of Tannin may be used 
alternately with the dry powder, or a solution of Alum, five grains to 
the ounce, may be employed. 

If the disease depends on scrofula, the following mixture may be 
given : Take of Iodide of Potassium, sixteen grains. Pyrophosphate of 
Iron, ten grains, water sufficient to make a solution. Syrup of Pepper- 
mint, sufficient to make two ounces. Mix. Dose : A teaspoon, half 
full, to a teaspoonful, three times a day. Or three to five drops of the 
syrup of the Iodide of Iron may be given. 

CRYING AND WAKEFULNESS— COLIC. 

Occasional crying of newborn children is a wise provision to bring 
the respiratory organs into play, and to expand the chest. When, 
however, the crying becomes excessive and threatens to prove injuri- 
ous, we must, in the first place, endeavor to discover its origin, which 
will frequently be found in some derangement in the infant's dress, a 



316 DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 

wet diaper or tight bandage, or perhaps it may feel thirsty and would 
like to be refreshed by a little cold water. Care and love will eas'ly 
detect the cause of the child's cries, and a good, true mother will 
scarcely ever lose her patience at such times. Sleeplessness is ^ften 
caused by similar circumstances ; the children sometimes lie with their 
heads too high, or they are too warm, or they are sometimes affected 
by nursing their mother when she is in a nervous and excited condi- 
tion ; all these things must be considered. 

Treatment. 

Belladonna will frequently be found sufficient to remove the evil 
when no exciting cause or guiding symptoms of disease present them- 
selves, and the infant is peevish and irritable, affected with incessant 
whimperings and wakefulness, or prolonged fits of crying. The infant's 
face looks somewhat flushed. Dose: Two pills every three hours 
until relief or change. 

Chamomilla is of very great service, when the child appears to 
have griping pain (colic), indicated by drawing up the limbs, contor- 
tions of the body and face ; or when there is a yellowish, greenish 
watery discharge from the bowels, the child wants to be carried all 
the time. Dosi: As for Belladonna, 

Allopathic Treatment. 

Crying, when not dependent on hunger, fright, willfulness, or 
peevishness, is generally dependent on dyspeptic colic. The cries are 
loud and may be long. Whimpering, moaning, painful cries, depend 
on inflammatory or exhausting diseases. The smothered cry depends 
on true or false croup. The treatment, therefore, will have reference 
to the causative conditions. The use of soothing syrups is not free 
from danger, as they contain a secret amount of Morphine, which is 
an unsafe drug to give to children. Simple restlessness may be 
relieved by two to five-grain doses of Bromide of Potassium dissolved 
in syrup. 

When necessary to give an anodyne it is best to gi^iw paregoriQ 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 317 

the doses of which are on the printed label, suited to the age. It can 
be given with the Bromide of Potassium, or an equal amount of Tinc- 
ture of Hyoscyamus. But rather than by any drugs, should relief be 
obtained by correcting whatever derangement causes the crying. 

Colic may be temporarily relieved by a dose of Paregoric suited to 
the age, given at suitable intervals of from half an hour to longer 
intervals, until the pain is relieved. Warm cloths or poultices, over 
the abdomen are useful. The principal treatment consists in correct- 
ing the derangement of the stomach and bowels. Irritation from un- 
suitable milk is a. frequent cause, as is noticed at the period of men- 
struation during lactation ; the occurrence of another pregnancy, 
violent mental emotions, hard exhausting labor, errors of diet, or some 
other causes which render the breast milk unsuitable. 

These causes suggest their own change. If the amount or quality 
of the breast milk is insufficient, the trouble will be relieved by proper 
artificial feeding. An excess of acidity in the stomach, as shown by 
sour eructations (belchings), sour and greenish stools, scattered some- 
times with lumps of undigested material, call for alkalies sufficient to 
correct these symptoms. The best is Bicarbonate of Soda, in doses 
of one or two grains, or teaspoonful doses of Lime Water, given often 
enough to correct the sourness (acidity). Two to five-grain doses of 
Pepsin, with an equal quantity of Bismuth, may be given three or four 
times a day. 

The Diet Must Be Regulated. 

The regulation of the diet to the exact wants of the system is the 
most important part of the treatment. This will have to be accom- 
plished somewhat by experiment. The milk for artificial, as tested by 
litmus paper, should be alkaline, and not used until sufficient Lime 
Water or Soda is added to make it so. It should be perfectly fresh, 
and kept on ice to prevent any decomposition (souring), or if this is 
impossible, and it cannot be freshly milked each time it is used, scald- 
ing will help to keep it, and is in this case permissible. 

The juice of lean meat may frequently be given instead of milk, 
with advantage, or raw lean beef, chopped fine, and ground in a 



318 DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 

mortar, and strained through a sieve, may be salted or sweetened, and 
fed a teaspoonful at a meal. It will frequently be digested when milk 
will not. 

In other children, the treatment will be the same for the relief of 
pain. If the irritating matter is not removed by a free, loose stool, a 
teaspoonful or a dessertspoonful of Castor Oil (mixed with an equa] 
quantity of inodorous glycerine, and flavored with a couple of dropc 
of Oil of Wintergreen or Cinnamon, to make it palatable), should be 
given. 

INDIGESTION AND VOMITING. 

The infant, the same as the adult, is subject to attacks of indigestion, 
and the disorder in the one case bears a certain similarity to that in the 
other. Though vomiting in every case is by no means the result of 
indigestion, for when the stomach is simply overloaded or rather over- 
filled, it relieves itself of the excess by vomiting, and this act takes 
place with little effort and no suffering, the process of digestion still 
going on undisturbed. 

When indigestion, colic, constipation, or diarrhoea arises from im- 
proper food in babies raised by hand — that is, from food which 
evidently does not agree with the child's stomach — or even from 
unwholesome maternal milk, we will frequently have to encounter 
many difficulties before we can select a suitable article of food that 
will agree with the delicate digestive apparatus of the babe. We 
should endeavor to make a good choice of food ; and if, having done 
so, we find that the choice has been a mistake, we should try again, 
not despairingly, but remembering always that what is one baby's food 
is another baby's poison. 

Treatment. 

Ipecac. There is much sickness of the stomach ; the more con 
stant the nausea, the more certain will Ipecac relieve, the stools look 
fermented. Dose : Two pills, repeated after a lapse of four hours, 

Chamomilla. The child is very irritable and fretful, must be 
carried all the time ; distress after nursing ; sleepless, starting and 
jerking whil^ asleep ; stools smell like rotten eggs and are green. 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 



Sl9 



chopped, or consist of white and yellow mucus. Dose : As for 
Jpecac. 

Arsenicum. The food is thrown up as soon as taken into the 
stomach, and passes off through the bowels undigested ; the stools 
are offensive ; much crying during and after nursing, or as soon as 
the child begins to take food. Emaciation and restlessness. Dose : 
As for Ipecac. 

Allopathic Treatment. 

Flatus will be relieved by alkalies, given as above, and care regard- 
ing food. Vomiting, except as a symptom of serious disease, and not 
simply a regurgitation from over-distention of the stomach, will be 
relieved by the same means. The infant should be given a little less 
food at a time. With infants at the breast, it is generally of no 
consequence. 

FLATULENCE. 

Gentle friction with the palm of the hand, which has been pre- 
viously warmed, will often give grateful relief It is best to begin at 
the lower right side of the bowels, passing the hand gently up the 
right side as high as the stomach, then cross and down the left side, 
and so on. At the same time the following remedies should be 
employed : 

Nux Vomica should be used at the onset for children of a spare, 
meagre habit, or who are more subject to a costive condition. Dose : 
One pill every two hours. 

Chamomilla should be administered four hours after the third dose 
of Nux or Pulsatilla, if no permanent rehef should have resulted ; 
and more especially if convulsions or diarrhoea be developed as 
attendant symptoms. Dose : As directed for Nux. 

The diet must, at the same time, be attended to and altered if of an 
indigestible nature and the suspected cause of the mischief This 
will, in time, bring a relief, as flatulence never occurs where proper 
food is furnished the child and only a sufficient quantity is given at 
regular intervals. 



320 DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 

MILK-CRUST, OR SCAB. 

This eruption occurs in children while nursing, r.^id more commonly 
while teething, and appears to be very closely connected with that 
process. It commonly commences on the cheeks and forehead by 
the breaking out of a number of small yellowish pustules (pimples), 
crowded together on a red surface. These pustules excite great itch- 
ing, and are quickly broken, discharging a viscid fluid that dries, form- 
ing greenish-yellow scabs ; the scabs are frequently rubbed off, but 
form again ; fresh crops of pustules appear around the scabs, which, 
quickly extend to the scalp, and even the face. 

The eruption appears behind the ears, and patches will sometimes 
appear, also, upon the neck and breast. The discharge from the pus- 
tules is caught by the hair upon the head, and forms into small, irre- 
gular, friable masses, which may resemble the bruised yolk of a hard- 
boiled Ggg. The pustules or achores, as the small superficial ulcers 
which they form upon the skin are sometimes called, have an irregular 
form, contain a straw-colored fluid, rest upon an inflamed base, and are 
succeeded by a thin brown or yellowish scab. There is much irritation, 
heat and itching ; the discharge is very profuse, and with so much itch- 
ing that it is easily rubbed off, leaving the surface raw and excoriated. 
This ailment may be regarded as nature's effort to throw off from the 
system what has no right to be there, and the presence of which 
would be injurious. 

Must Not be Driven In. 

Whenever this discharge is brought in contact with the skin — in the 
face, where it trickles down on the breast, where it falls, and upon the 
backs of the hands, violently used by the child to rub with — -it proves s^ 
acrid as to produce there a fresh eruption. The same is true even d 
the arms of the nurse upon which the child rests its head at night 
The itching and burning acridity of the eruption, and discharge, are 
much worse at night. All external application should be avoided, 
with the exception of a little sweet cream or olive oil, which has 
sotnetimes proved very grateful. Everything should be carefully 



JDISEASES OF CHILDREN. 



^21 



avoided which would have a tendency to drive this eruption in, -jince 
it mieht result in some more serious trouble. 

Treatment. 

Aconite should always commence our treatment, when we find 
excessive restlessness and excitability produced by this affection, and 
when the skin around the parts is red, inflamed and itching. Dose : 
Two pills repeated every two hours. 

Viola Tricolor. As soon as the beneficial effect has resulted from 
tlie administration of Aconite ; and six hours after the last dose of 
<ihat medicine, it will be well to proceed with the remedy under con- 
sideration, which, in the simple and uncomplicated form of the dis- 
ease, is often sufficient to effect a cure. Dose : Two globules every 
night and morning. 

APHTHA— THRUSH. 

The thrush often attacks the infant in the second week, and is char 
acterized by the mouth and tongue being covered with minute whitish 
blisters, which are rubbed off by the action of sucking. A succession 
of these vesicles is constantly taking place as long as the disease lasts, 
and if not checked, become confluent and sometimes present an 
ulcerated appearance, or form a thin, white crust, which generally lines 
the whole cavity of the mouth, and in severe cases, extends to the 
throat, and even throughout the stomach and bowels. 

The affection, although of itself neither malignant nor dangerous, 
frequently causes not only considerable suffering to the child by pre- 
venting it from suckling, but great pain and inconvenience to the 
mother by being communicated to the nipples and causing excoria 
tions, etc. 

Treatment. 

Chamomilla. When the child exhibits much uneasiness, and must 
:)e carried all the time, this remedy will prove more beneficial. Dose: 
Two pills every three hours. 

Mercurius is to be recommended when there is more than usual 
moisture in the mouth. There is inflammation in the whole cavity d 

a 



322 DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 

the mouth ; the gums have ulcers on th-em. Dose: Two pills, to be 
taken every four hours. 

Sulphur. The child does not take its usually long sleep ; it 
awakens often and the same symptoms prevail, even after taking the 
other remedies. Dose : As for Mercurius. 

The mouth should be carefully washed after nursing, with a soft old 
linen rag, dipped in tepid water, or in water containing a small quan- 
tity of Borax and Honey in solution. Pure molasses, applied by 
means of a piece of old linen or muslin, or by the finger, constitutes 
one of the best healing washes, where one seems to be needed. 

Allopathic Treatment. 

A good digestion and regularity of the bowels should be secured. 

The nourishment of the child is generally insufficient, so that in 
cases of weakly infants, additional feeding is necessary. A little new 
creamy milk, the juice of lean meat, or freely ground lean beef may 
be given. For Iccal use, a wash of Lime Water, a solution of 
Chlorate of Potash or Borax is appropriate. 

If ulceration occurs, the popular Golden Thread tea and Borax may 
be used. Sulphurous Acid, two drachms in an ounce of water, may 
be applied with a linen mop. 

CONSTIPATION. 

Even very young infants are sometimes affected with constipation ; 
in fact, during the first two months of infantile life, constipation is 
frequent, while diarrhoea is comparatively rare. This may be occa- 
sioned by some hereditary predisposition, and be maintained by the 
constantly imparted influence of a costive habit on the part of the 
nursing mother. 

In the medical treatment of the constipation of infants, recoiirse 
must always be had to the cause. If this be found in the nursing 
mother, the proper remedies should first be administered to her. 
Should there be anything in her diet which may be capable of render- 
ing either her or her child constipated, this shouia also be attended to. 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 823 

With scarcely a single exception, cases of costiveness in nursing 
infants will be found dependent upon the influence of diet, hereditary 
and constitutional weakness and inaction of the bowels, or actual 
derangement of the liver. 

Mechanical Measures. 

We may observe that an injection (lavement) of tepid water, or of 
some milk and water, may occasionally be used, if necessary, to re- 
move the obstruction of fceces ; or, a suppository, consisting of a small 
strip of paper or linen, spirally twisted and lubricated with oil, may 
be introduced by a gentle rotary movement. 

If these means should fail at first, they should be repeated after the 
lapse of a few hours. Rubbing the stomach and bowels frequently in 
the course of the day with a warm hand sometimes assists the means 
employed. In order to overcome the constitutional tendency, it will 
be well to use the appropriate remedies. 

Allopathic Treatment. 

Constipation is best relieved by injections of soap and water or cold 
water. We have known teaspoonful doses of Olive Oil to relieve 
constipation in infants without being followed again by constipation. 
Syrup of Rhubarb, in doses of half a teaspoonful to a teaspoonful and 
a half, may be used. Fluid Extract of Senna in doses of ten to thirty 
drops in syrup is generally an effectual remedy in constipation. 
Change in the diet which will overcome costiveness is called for. To 
this end fruit is indicated. It may be raw or cooked. 

If hard fceces have lodged in the rectum (lower bowel), which the 
injections do not remove, they should be broken down by the finger 
or removed with the handle of a spoon. In other children free exer- 
cise should be taken ; in cities the systematic use of gymnastics may 
be useful. Cold wet-packing of the abdomen often succeeds. Exer-. 
cise and bathing, and a diet with plenty ot fruit, will probably relieve 

The Flui:] Extract of Senna may be given, and for continued use, 
iiuc^;' ■ oi Nux Voniica and Belladonna will establish the habit of a 



n24 DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 

regular stool. Take o^ tincture of Nux Vomica and Tincture of 
Belladonna each two drachms, Syrup of Orange Peel four drachms 
Mix. Dose : One to twenty drops once a day, according to the age 
of the child. 

DIARRHCEA OF CHILDREN. 

Infantile diarrhoea constitutes one of the most frequent and serious 
of all diseases that occur in infancy and childhood. 

Of itself alone diarrhoea does not often prove directly fatal, but its 
long continuance seriously weakens the patient, and endangers the 
health, and it constitutes, moreover, a very grave complication of other 
forms of disease. 

Causes of diarrhoea are various ; the introduction into the stomach 
of inappropriate indigestible food; the deranged condition of the 
mother's milk induced by mental emotions, improper diet, or other 
causes on the part of the mother ; fright and exposure of the infant to 
cold, and the improper use of laxatives, etc., may be enumerated as 
being the most frequent exciting causes of this disorder. 

It is well to notice closely as to the symptoms. A healthy infant 
at the breast, passes on an average from three to six motions in twenty- 
four hours ; but in some instances the evacuations are more frequent, 
yet without in any degree affecting the health of the child ; in such cases, 
then, there ought to be little or no interference, so long as the stools 
remain free from fetor, possessing merely the slightly acid smell, peculiar 
to unnatural indication. When, however, the stools become green and 
watery, or yellow and watery, brown and frothy, as if fermented, 
mixed with phlegm or mucus, or consisting entirely of mucus, emJt an 
offensive odor, and are generally preceded or accompanied by signs of 
suffering, it becomes necessary to have recourse to remedial aid. \ 

\ 
CHOLERA INFANTUM— SUMMER COMPLAINT. 

This is a special form of bowel complaint, which requires special 
notice. This disease very often proves fatal, even under the best of 
treatment, since it appears usually in the latter part of the summer, 
when the young infant's system is already somewhat exhausted by the 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 325 

previous heat ; when the air is impure and the weather sultry, or warm 
and damp, and seems to spring up as an epidemic from some atmos- 
pheric miasm which is little less than malignant. In this, the worst 
form of infantile diarrhoea, all the symptoms seem equal in intensity 
and the disease runs a very rapid course. Children under two years 
are most liable to attack. 

Vomiting and diarrhoea form the most notable symptoms. The 
stomach is so irritable that it rejects immediately and sometimes with 
great violence everythmg that it receives. At first, the matter vomited 
consists of the ordinary contents of the stomach, but this does not 
continue long ; as the malady advances the matter vomited is tinged 
with bile and presents a greenish hue. 

Serious Symptoms. 

The discharge from the bowels usually consists of a colorless oi 
sometimes greenish, inodorous and watery fluid ; occasionally with 
shreds of mucus mixed with it. The stools are usually discharged 
without effect — sometimes unconsciously- — or are squirted out as 
though thrown from a syringe. Frequently there is considerable pain, 
with straining, the infant manifesting its sufferings by a whining, plain, 
tive cry, by restlessness, and by drawing up and extending its limbs 
As the disease advances, vomiting becomes spontaneous, and the 
matter ejected resembles that passing from the bowels, while the 
number of stools increase. 

Sometimes there is a sudden lull in the whole force of the disease, 
or the diarrhoea may abate and the vomiting continue, or the opposite. 
There is extreme languor and prostration, and generally very rapid 
emaciation, which conditions, together with the vomiting and the 
diarrhoea, as above described, clearly and unmistakably point to 
cholera infantum. 

As the disease progresses, the discharges from the bowels become 
still more frequent, are passed involuntarily, and are usually more 
profuse, resembling dark-colored dirty water or " washings of meat,'* 
and are very offensive ; emaciation becomes extreme ; the eyes are 



326 DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 

languid and dull, or hollow and glassy, and the child takes no notice 
of surrounding objects or persons ; the lips are dry and shrivelled. 
In many cases, the child lies in an imperfect doze, with half-closed 
eyes, and entirely insensible to external impressions. The abdomen 
frequently becomes distended and hard, or is sunken or flaccid. 

Stupor and Convulsions. 

Frequently, in fatal cases, the child falls into a complete state of 
stupor, and convulsions ensue. It not unfrequently happens, particularly 
in children predisposed to affection of the brain, that in an early stage 
of the disease the brain becomes involved, and the child dies with 
all the symptoms of inflammation of the brain. 

Favorable symptoms are an abatement of the fever, and the gradual 
restoration of an even temperature, with decreased frequency of the 
pulse ; cessation of vomiting and decrease in the number of evacua- 
tions, with a gradual return of the stool to a more natural condition 
and appearance; natural and peaceful sleep, desire for food, and a gen- 
eral improvement in the appearance of the child, together with a 
return of playfulness. 

Homoeopathic Treatment. 

The subjoined medicines, however, are those most frequently called 
for in the treatment of the disease under consideration, and are 
approved as of the utmost efficacy when carefully selected for the 
individual case. 

Aconitum is very frequently indicated, and should be given, in 
cases in which there is febrile excitation, manifested by acceleration 
of the pulse, heat and dryness of the skin, and thirst. Under such 
circumstances it often happens that Aconitum, when promptly admin 
istered, not only removes the febrile indication, but, as well, cuts 
short the entire disease, and very promptly aids in restoring the haht 
to health. 

.Dose: Two globules, dry, on the tongue, every one or two hours, 
according to the severity of the* symptoms, until manifest improve- 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 32Y 

ment or change. If a favorable change should result, however slight, 
at once lenp-then the intervals between the doses to two, three, or four 
hours, as the case may be, according to the existing condition, and 
finally cease giving medicine upon the exhibition of marked and 
decided amelioration and improvement. Should, however, no evi- 
dence of improvement be manifested after the sixth dose, or should 
symptoms indicative of some other remedy sooner occur, proceed at 
once to the administration of another and better indicated remedy. 

Arsenicum is suited particularly to cases in which there is great 
weakness from the first, so that the child does not care to hold its 
head up ; there is much thirst, while drinking induces vomiting and 
stool ; vomiting and purging occur at the same time, and greatly 
exhaust the child ; the child has a Dinched and distressed look, and 
is very restless, which restlessness, together with the other symptoms, 
grows worse after midnight ; coldness of the hands, feet, etc. Dose : 
In every particular as directed for Aconitum. 

Ipecacuanha should be given when the stools, which are very fre- 
quent, have a fermented appearance, or resemble greenish water ; and 
when, more particularly, nausea and vomiting predominate, the child 
seeming to be sick at its stomach, almost constantly. Dose: In every 
particular as directed for Aco7tituin. 

Chamomilla will frequently prove useful in the early stages of 
some cases, particularly if the child be suffering from the irritation 
incident to dentition ; it is more particularly indicated by the presence 
of griping, colicky pains, v/ith greenish stools ; fretfulness and cross- 
ness, with desire to be carried. Dose: Two globules, dr}', on the 
tongue, every three hours, until manifest improvement or change. 

Diet and Regimen. 

Very little nourishment will be taken by an infant suffering from 
cholera infantum. Breast milk should constitute its chief source of/ 
food and drink, in cases in which the child suckles ; but in other 
cases, however, great care must be taken to avoid giving anythin^:; 
tnat can add to the irritation already existing in the stomach and 



S28 DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 

bowels. Pure, dilute milk, boiled and sweetened, or thin, well-boiled 
oatmeal gruel, will afford sufficient food and drink. Water may be 
given in small quantities, if it does not excite vomiting ; in which 
latter case, the infant may be permitted to suck small pieces of ice 
from time to time, if its lips be parched and dry, oi a small piece of 
ice may be enclosed in a linen rag, and the child allowed to suck at it. 
Every effort should be made to sustain the natural warmth of the 
body, particularly of the abdomen and lower extremities, by the appli- 
cation of warmed woolen cloths ; but the resort to the application of 
cIoliIS wrung out of hot spirits, or claret wine, or other poultices, is 
highly objectionable, and should not be resorted to. 

Allopathic Treatment. 

In the cholera of infants, if vomiting and purging have not emptied 
the stomach and bowels of their irritating contents, as shown by 
undigested substances in the stools or vomited matter, an emetic of 
^hree or five grains of Ipecac should be given in water, or a purge o{ 
three grains of Calomel should be given. The latter should be 
assisted in its operation by an injection of warm water. If no indiges- 
tible matter is noticed, neither a purge nor an emetic should be given, 
but no time should be lost in stopping the discharges. 

This is best and soonest done with Opium. One drop of Lauda- 
num may be given with a teaspoonful of Chalk Mixture or three grains 
of Sub-Carbonate (or Nitrate) of Bismuth in a teaspoonful of Lime 
Water. This may be given every hour to a child a year old. To 
those younger, Paregoric should be given instead of Laudanum. If 
neither Bismuth and Lime Water nor Chalk Mixture are at hand, the 
Opiate should be given with a grain or two of Bicarbonate of (baking) 
Soda. 

The object is to diminish the discharges from the stomach and 
bowels and improve their character. When the discharges are 
checked or the child begins to be stupid, the opiate should be dis» 
continued or given less frequently. When the vomiting has ceased, 
:f the bowels continue moving, if the child is not inclined to be stupid, 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 329 

an injection of two or five drops of Laudanum may be given, with half 
a teaspoonful of milk in a small, hard-rubber syringe. 

Well-tried Remedies. 

If the child is nursing it should be confined wholly to the breast, 
and then only allowed to draw small quantities at a time. If the 
breast milk is rejected, it can be allowed lean meat finely minced, 
pounded in a mortar and strained, which may be seasoned with salt. 
The white of eggs mixed with water, and rendered alkaline with 
Bicarbonate of (baking) Soda, five to ten grains, is frequently well 
digestedo The raw meat juice and white of egg are of great use when 
there is great prostration or emaciation. 

If the pulse weakens or collapse threatens, stimulants should be 
freely given. Brandy or bourbon whiskey is best suited. The dose 
is fifteen or twenty drops to a teaspoonful, given with the milk, meat 
juice, or egg, and can be repeated at intervals varying from one to 
four hours. Stimulants are generally indicated early. 

Rice or barley water can be drunk ; small lumps of ice may be 
allowed. A warm poultice over the stomach will be beneficial. Great 
heat of the skin will require cool sponging. If the skin is cool or 
cold, give a bath of one hundred to one hundred and four degrees. 

Sometimes cholera infantum is caused from ill-nourishment. In 
these cases, the acute symptoms are relieved by Opium, as above 
directed, and better nourishment completes the cure. When the dis- 
ease occurs from the effects of heat. Bromide of Potassium is highly 
serviceable, and is thought by some to be generally applicable. Take 
of Bromide of Potash two scruples. Mucilage of Gum Arabic two 
ounces. Mix. Dose: From fifteen drops to a teaspoonful. 

Five-grain doses of Cerium, an eighth of a drop of Creosote or Carbolic 
A^cid in water, are useful in relieving the vomiting. Continued diarrhoea 
will call for astringents. Anaemia (thin blood) will require tonics, such 
as : Take of Citrate of Iron and Quinine ten to fifteen grains. Orange 
Water and Peppermint Water each an ounce. Mix. Dos^ P'Ivq 
leaspoon half full three or four times a day. 



!530 DISEASES OP CHILDREN. 

If the cause of the disease is malarial, one or two grains of Quinine 
ought to be given at the first intermission. 

ASTHMA. 

This disease attacks children between the ages of two and eight 
(seldom infants at the breast), and is very similar to croup. The 
attack almost always sets in in winter, in consequence of a cold ; first 
at night, suddenly without any distinct premonitory symptoms, and 
sets in at once with the most violent symptoms of suffocation without 
any rattling or wheezing. 

The pulse is hurried and small. If cougn sets in it is short, rough, 
without gagging or expectoration ; the voice is hoarse, deglutition 
difficult. However, the child does not complain of a local obstacle 
in swallowing or breathing, or of pain in the larynx or trachea, but 
of a dull pain or spasmodic drawing throughout the chest, as if 
caused by suffocating vapors. 

VACCINATIO^^. 

The customary place for vaccination to be performed, is on the 
outer side of the upper part of the left arm. Three to six points 
should be inserted. In two or three days the swelling is noticed, and 
the fifth or sixth day the vesicles are formed, which reach their 
greatest size from the seventh to the ninth day. This is the time to 
vaccinate from arm to arm: The crusts mature and are ready to drop 
off on about the twentieth day. 

The itching, burning, and pain occasioned by the vesicles, may be 
greatly relieved by brushing over them a mixture of one drachm of 
Fluid Extract of Belladonna, with four drachms of Olive Oil, or if the 
inflammation is very intense, a cloth wet continually witb a solution of 
fifteen grains of Sugar of Lead, and five to ten grains of the Acetate 
of Morphine in a pint of rain-water, can be constantly applied if the 
patient remains in bed. The feverishness and discomfort does not 
require any treatment. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 
How TO Prevent Disease. 

Unhealthy Boys and Girls — The Overworked Brain — ^Tendency to Scrofula — Pre 
ventive Measures — Building Up the System — Girls Who Stoop — Curvature of 
the Spine — Treatment for Spinal Affections — Games of Sport for Young Ladies 
— Consumption — Blood-spitting — Causes and Remedies — Poor Diet — Treatment 
for Sore Throat — Evil Effects of Tobacco — Bleeding from the Nose — Fainting 
— Costiveness — Too Much Medicine — Appeal to American Mothers — Pimples 
on the Face — Gum-boils — How to Cure Corns — How to Destroy Warts — Deli- 
cate Young Ladies — Bodily Improvement among American Girls. 

cc^MART" children are not always che healthiest. A greater 
^^ quantity of arterial blood is sent to the brain of those who are 
prematurely talented, and hence it becomes more than ordi- 
narily developed. Such advantages are not unmixed with danger ; 
this same arterial blood may excite and feed inflammation, and either 
convulsions, or water on the brain, or insanity, or, at last, idiocy may 
follow. How proud a mother is in having a precocious child. How 
little is she aware that precocity is frequently an indication of disease. 
It behooves a parent, if her son be precocious, to restrain him — to 
send him to a quiet country place, free from the excitement of the 
town ; and when he is sent to school, to give directions to the master 
that he is not on any account to tax his intellect (for a master is apt, 
if he have a clever boy, to urge him forward) ; and to keep him from 
those institutions where a spirit of rivalry is maintained, and where 
the brain is thus kept in a state of constant excitement. Medals and 
prizes are well enough for those who have moderate abilities, but 
dangerous indeed to those who have brilliant ones. 

An over-worked precocious brain is apt to cause the death of the 
owner ; and if it does not do so, It in too many instances injures the 
brain irreparably, and the possessor of such an organ, from being one 
of the most intellectual of children, becomes one of the most common- 
place of men. Let us urge you, if you have a precocious child, to 

331 



332 HOW TO PREVENT DISEASE. 

give, and that before it be too late, the subject in question your best 
consideration. 

Precocious boys in their general health are usually delicate. Nature 
seems to have given a delicate body to compensate for the advantages 
of a talented mind. A precocious youth is predisposed to consump- 
tion, more so than to any other disease. The hard study which he 
frequently undergoes excites the disease into action. It is not desira- 
ible, therefore, to have a precocious child. A writer in " Eraser's 
Mageizine " speaks very much to the purpose when he says, ** Give us 
intellectual beef rather than intellectual veal." 

Predisposition to Scrofula. 

He or she who has a moist, cold, fair, delicate, and almost trans- 
parent skin, large prominent blue eyes, protuberant forehead, light- 
brown or auburn hair, rosy cheeks, pouting lips, milk-white teeth, 
long neck, high shoulders, small, flat and contracted chest, tumid 
bowels, large joints, thin limbs, and flabby muscles, is the person most 
predisposed to scrofula. 

The disease is not entirely confined to the above ; sometimes she or 
he who has black hair, dark eyes and complexion is subject to it, but 
yet, far less frequently. It is a remarkable fact that the most talented 
<irc the most prone to scrofula, and being thus clever, their intellect 
is too often cultivated at the expense of their health. In infancy 
and childhood, either water on the brain or mesenteric disease ; in 
youth, pulmonary consumption is frequently their doom. They are 
like shining meteors — their life is short, but brilliant. 

"Warding off Scrofula. 

Strict attention to the rules of health is the means to prevent 
scrofula. Books, unless as an amusement, ought to be discarded. 
The pat'.ent must almost live in the open air, and his residence 
should be a healthy country place, where the air is dry and bracing ; 
if it be at a farm-house, in a salubrious neighborhood, so much the 
better. In selecting a house for a patient predisposed to scrofula. 



HOW TO PREVENT DISSASE. 333 

good, pure water should be an importar requisite ; indeed for every 
one who values his health. Early risin. in such a case is most bene- 
ficial. Wines, spirits, and all fermente. liquors ought to be avoided. 
Beef-steaks and mutton-chops in abundance, and plenty of milk and 
of farinaceous food, such as rice, sago, arrowroot, etc., should be his 
diet. 

Scrofula, if the above rules be strictly and perseveringly followed , 
may be warded off; but there must be no half measures, no trying to 
serve two masters — to cultivate at the same time the health and the 
intellect. The brain, until the body becomes strong, must not be 
taxed. You may prevent scrofula by care, but that some children are 
originally predisposed to the disease there cannot be the least doubt, 
and in such cases the education and the habits of the youth should be 
so directed as to ward off a complaint, the effects of which are so 
frequently fatal. 

But suppose the disease to be already formed, what must then be 
done ? The plan recommended above must still be pursued, not by 
fits and starts, but steadily and continuously, for it is a complaint that 
requires a vast deal of patience and great perseverence. Warm and 
cold sea-bathing in such a case is generally most beneficial. In a 
patient with confirmed scrofula it will, of course, be necessary to con- 
sult a skilful and experienced doctor. 

Avoid Weakening the System. 

But do not allow, without a second opinion, any plan to be adopted 
that will weaken the system, which is already too much depressed. 
No ; rather build up the body by good nourishing diet (as previously 
recommended), by cod-liver oil and by a dry bracing atmosphere= 
Let no active purging, no mercurials, no violent, desperate remedies, 
/•>e allowed. If the patient cannot be cured without them, we are posi- 
tive that he will not be cured with them. 

But do not despair ; many scrofulous patients are cured by time 
And by judicious treatment. But if desperate remedies are to be 
used, the poor patient had better by far be left to nature : ** Let me 



334 HOW TO PREVENT DISEASE. 

fall now into the hand of the Lord ; for very great are his mercies i 
but let me not fall into the hand of man." — Bible. 

Evils of Stooping. 

A girl ought never to be allowed to stoop ; stooping spoils the 
figure, weakens the chest, and interferes with the digestion. If she 
cannot help stooping, you may depend upon it that she is in bad 
health, and that a medical man ought to be consulted. As soon as 
her health Is improved, calisthenic and gymnastic exercises should be 
resorted to. Horse exercise and swimming in such a case are very 
beneficial. The girl should live well, on good nourishing diet, and 
not be too closely confined either to the house or to her lessons. She 
ought, during the night, to lie on a horse-hair mattress, and during 
the day, for two or three hours, flat on her back on a reclining board. 
Stooping, if neglected, is very likely to lead to consumption. 

If a boy be round-shouldered and slouching in his gait, let him be 
drilled ; there is nothing more likely to benefit him than drilling. 
You never see a soldier round-shouldered nor slouchy in his gait. 
He walks every inch like a man. Look at the difference in appear- 
ance between a country bumpkin and a soldier. It is the drilling that 
makes the difference : ** Oh, for a drill-sergeant to teach them to 
stand upright, and to turn out their toes, and to get rid of that 
slouching hulking gait, which gives them such a look of clumsiness 
and stupidity! " 

Curvature of the Spine. 

The causes of lateral curvature of the spine, and consequent bulg- 
ing out of the ribs, arise either from delicacy of constitution, from the 
want of proper exercise, from too much learning, or from too little 
play, or from not sufficient or proper nourishment for a rapidly-growing 
body. We are happy to say that such a case, by judicious treatment, 
can generally be cured — namely, by gymnastic exercises, such as the 
hand-swing, the fly-pole, the patent parlor gymnasium, the chest- 
expander, the skipping rope; the swimming-bath ; all sorts of outdoor 
games, such as tennis, archery, bicycling in moderation ; by plenty of 



HOW TO PREVENT DISEASE. 335 

good nourishment^ by making her a child of nature, by letting her 
ain^ost live in the open air, and by throwing books to the winds. 

But let us strongly urge you not, unless ordered by an experienced 
surgeon, to allow any mechanical restraints or appliances to be used. 
If she be made strong, the muscles themselves will pull both the spine 
and the ribs into their proper places, more especially if judicious games 
and exercises (as before advised), and other treatment of a strengthen 
ing and bracing nature, which a medical man will indicate to you, be 
enjoined. 

Mechanical appliances will, if not judiciously applied, and in a proper 
case, waste away the muscles, and will thus increase the mischief; if 
they cause the ribs to be pushed in in one place, they will bulge them 
out in another, until, instead of being one, there will be a series 
of deformities. No, the giving of strength and the judicious exercising 
of the muscles are, for a lateral curvature of the spine and the conse- 
quent bulging out of one side of the ribs, the proper remedies, and, 
in the majority of cases, are most effectual, and quite sufficient for the 
purpose. 

Let There be no Delay. 

We think it well to strongly impress upon a mother's mind the great 
importance of early treatment. If the above advice be followed, every 
curvature in the beginning might be cured. Cases of several years' 
standing might, with judicious treatment, be wonderfully relieved. 

Bear in mind, then, that if the girl is to be made straight, she is 
first of all to be made strong; the latter, together with the proper 
exercises of the muscles, will lead to the former ; and the earlier a 
medical man takes it in hand, the more rapid, the more certain, and 
the more effectual will be the cure. 

An inveterate, long-continued, and neglected case of curvature of 
the spine and bulging out of the ribs on one side might require 
mechanical appliances, but such a case can only be decided on by an 
experienced surgeon, who ought always, in the first place, to be 
consulted. 

Spitting of blood is always to be looked upon with suspicion ; eveo 



336 HOW TO PREVENT DISEASE. 

when a youth appears, in other respects, to be in good health, it is 
frequently the forerunner of consumption. It might be said that, by 
mentioning the fact, we are unnecessarily alarming a parent, but, accord- 
ing to Shakespeare, it would be a false kindness if we did not do so : 

•' I must be cruel, only to be kind." 

Let us ask, when is consumption to be cured? Is it at the onset, 
or is it when it is confirmed ? If a mother had been more generally 
aware that spitting of blood was frequently the forerunner of con- 
sumption, she would, in the management of her offspring have taken 
greater precautions ; she would have made everything give way to the 
preservation of their health ; and, in many instances, she would have 
been amply repaid by having the lives of her children spared to her. 

It might be well to state that consumption creeps on insidiously. 
One of the earliest symptoms of this dreadful scourge is a slight, dry, 
short cough, attended with tickling and irritation at the top of the 
throat. This cough generally occurs in the morning ; but, after some 
time, comes on at night, and gradually through the day and the night. 
Frequently, during the early stage of the disease, a slight spitting of 
blood occurs. 

Growing Bodily Weakness. 

There is usually hoarseness, not constant, but coming on if the 
patient be tired, or towards the evening ; there is also a sense of lassi- 
tude and depression, shortness of breath, a feeling of being quickly 
wearied — more especially on the slightest exertion. The hair of a 
consumptive person usually falls off, and what little remains is weak 
and poor ; the joints of the fingers become enlarged, or clubbed as it 
is sometimes called; the patient loses flesh, and, after some time, 
night-sweats make their appearance : then we may know that hectic 
fever has commenced. 

Hectic begins with chilliness, which is soon followed by flushings of 
the face and by burning heat of the hands and feet, especially of the 
palms and soles. This is soon succeeded by perspirations. The 
patient has generally, during the day, two decided paroxysms of 



HOW TO PREVENT DISEASE. Si^f 

hectic fever — the one at noon, which lasts above five hours ; the 
other in the evening, which is more severe, and ends in violent per- 
spirations, which perspirations continue the whole night through. He 
may, during the day, have several attacks of hectic flushes of the 
face, especially after eating ; at one moment he complains of being 
too hot, and rushes to the cool air ; the next moment he is too cold, 
and almost scorches himself by sitting too near the fire. Whenever 
the circumscribed hectic flush is on the cheek, it looks as though the 
cheek had been painted with vermilion, then is the time when the 
palms of the hands are burning hot. Crabbe, in tb? following lines, 
graphically describes the hectic flush : 

** When Ills thin cheek assumed a deadly hue, 
And all the rose to on-e small spot withdrew ; 
They called it hectic ; 'twas a fiery flush, 
More fixed and deeper than the maiden blush. '* 

The expectoration at first is merely mucus, but after a time it 
assumes a characteristic appearance ; it has a roundish, flocculent, 
tvoolly form, each portion of phlegm keeping, as it were, distinct ; 
and if the expectoration be stirred in water, it has a milk-like appear- 
ance. The patient is commonly harassed by frequent bowel com- 
plaints, which rob him of what little strength he has left. The feet 
and ankles swell. 

Last Stages. 

The perspiration, as before remarked, comes on in the evening, 
continues all night — more especially towards morning, and while the 
patient is asleep ; during the time he is awake, even at night, he 
seldom sweats much. The thrush generally shows itself towards 
the close of the disease, attacking the tongue, the tonsils and 
the soft palate, and is a sure harbinger of approaching death. Ema 
elation rapidly sets in. 

If we consider the immense engines of destruction at work, namely, 

the colliquative (melting) sweats, the violent bowel complaints, the vital 

parts that are affected, the harassing cough, the profuse expectoration, 

the hectic fever, the distressing exertion of struggling to breathe— -we 

22 



838 HOW TO PREVENT DISEASE. 

cannot be surprised that " consumption had hung out her red flag of 
no surrender," and that death soon closes the scene. In girls, pro- 
vided they have been previously regular, menstruation gradually 
declines, and then entirely disappears. 

The predisposing causes of concumption are the tuberculous habit 
of body, hereditary predisposition, narrow or contracted chest, 
deformed spine, delicacy of constitution, bad and scanty diet, or food 
containing but little nourishment, impure air, close in-door confinement 
in schools, in shops and in factories, ill-ventilated apartments, dissipa- 
tion, late hours, over-taxing with book-learning the growing brain, 
thus producing debility, want of proper out-door exercises and 
amusements, tight lacing ; indeed, anything and everything that either 
will debilitate the constitution, or will interfere with, or will impede, 
the proper action of the lungs, will be the predisposing causes of this 
fearful and lamentable disease. 

Poor and Insufficient Diet. 

An ill, poor, and insufficient diet is the mother of many diseases, 
and especially of consumption ; *' Whatsoever was the father of a 
disease, an ill diet was the mother." The most common exciting 
causes of consumption are slighted colds, neglected inflammation of 
the chest, long continuance of influenza, sleeping in damp beds, allow- 
ing wet clothes to dry on the body, unhealthy employments — such as 
needle-grinding, pearl button making, etc. 

Supposing a youth to have spitting of blood, what precautions 
should we take to prevent it from ending in consumption ? Let his 
health be the first consideration ; throw books to the winds ; if he be 
at school take him away ; if he be in trade cancel his indentures ; if 
he be in the town send him to a sheltered healthy spot in the countryj 
or a mild climate ; let this be done if possible. 

You should be particular in his clothing, taking especial care to 
keep his chest and feet warm. If he did not already wear flannel 
waistcoats, let it be winter or summer, we should recommend him 
immediately to do so : if it be winter, we should advise him, also, to 



HOW TO PREVENT DISEASE. 



339 



take to flannel drawers. The feet must be carefully attended to ; they 

ought to be kept both warm and dry, the slightest dampness of either 

shoes or stockings should cause them to be immediately changed. If 

a boy, he ought to wear double-breasted waistcoats ; if a girl, high 

dresses. 

Errors in Treatment. 

The diet must be nutritious and generous ; he should be encouraged 
to eat plentifully of beef and mutton. There is nothing better for 
breakfast, where it agrees, than milk ; indeed, it may be frequently 
made to agree by previously boiling it. Wine and spirits must, on no 
account, be allowed. We caution parents in this particular, as many 
have an idea that wine, in such cases, is strengthening, and that rum 
and milk is a good thing either to cure or to prevent a, cough. 

If it be summer, let him be much in the open air, avoiding the 
evening and the night air. If it be winter he should, unless the 
weather be mild for the season, keep within doors. Particular atten- 
tion ought to be paid to the point the wind is in, as he should not be 
allowed to go out if it is either in the north, in the east, or in the 
northeast ; the latter is more especially dangerous. We know of nr 
remedy so likely to ward off that formidable complaint, consumption 
as change of air. 

How to Deal with a Sore Throat. 

If a youth be much predisposed to a sore throat he must use every 
morning thorough ablution of the body, beginning cautiously,* that is 
to say, commencing with the neck one morning, then, by degrees, 
morning after morning, sponging a larger surface, until the whole of 
the body be sponged. The chill at first must be taken off the water; 
gradually the temperature ought to be lowered, until the water be 
quite cold, taking care to rub the body thoroughly dry with a coarse 
towel — a Turkish rubber being the best for the purpose. 

He ought to bathe his throat externally every night and morning 
with lukewarm salt and water, the temperature of which must be 
^rradually reduced until at length no warm water be ad(kd. He 



340 HOW TO PREVENT DISEASE. 

should gargle his throat either with barm, vinegar, and sage tea, or 
with salt and water — two teaspooiifuls of table salt dissolved in a 
tumbler of water. He ought to harden himself by taking plenty of 
exercise in the open air. He must, as much as possible, avoid either 
sitting or standing in a draught ; if he be in one, he should face it. 
He ought to keep his feet warm and diy. He should take as little 
aperient medicine as possible, avoiding especially both calomel and 
blue-pill. As he grows up to manhood he ought to allow his beard 
to grow, as such would be a natural covering for his throat. 

Bad Effects of Tobacco. 

We are not now called upon to give an opinion of the eifects of 
tobacco smoking on the middle-aged and on the aged. We are 
addressing a mother as to the desirability of her sons, when boys, 
being allowed to smoke. We consider tobacco smoking one of the 
most injurious and deadly habits a boy or young man can indulge in. 
It coJitracts the chest and weakens the lungs, thus predisposing to 
consumption. It impairs the stomach, thus producing indigestion. 
It debilitates the brain and nervous system, thus inducing epileptic 
fits and nervous depression. It stunts the growth, and is one cause 
of the present race of pigmieSo It makes the young lazy and disin- 
clined for work. It is one of the greatest curses of the present day. 

The following cases prove, more than any argument can prove, the 
dangerous and deplorable effects of a boy smoking. We copy the first 
case from Public Opinion: "A pupil in one of the academies, only 
twelve years of age, was some time since seized with epileptic fits, 
which became worse and worse in spite of all the remedies employed. 
At last it was discovered that the lad had been for two years past 
secretly indulging in the weed. Effectual means were adopted tc 
prevent his obtaining tobacco, and he soon recovered." 

The other case was a youth of nineteen. He was an inveterate 
smoker. From being a bright intelligent lad, he was becoming idiotic, 
and epileptic fits were supervening. He had painted to him, in vivid 
colors, the horrors of his case, and was assured that if he still persisted 




THE LARGE INTESTINES AND MUSCLES OF THE THIGHS. 



HOW TO PREVENT DISEASE. 341 

In his bad practices, he would soon become a drivelling idiot. We at 
length, after some trouble and contention, prevailed upon him to desist 
from smoking altogether. He rapidly lost all epileptic symptoms, his 
face soon assumed its wonted intelligence, and his mind asserted its 
former power. 

Treatment for Bleeding from the Nose. 

Do not, unless it be violent, interfere with a bleeding from the nose. 
A bleeding from the nose is frequently an effort of nature to relieve 
itself, and therefore, unless it be likely to weaken the patient, ought 
not to be restrainedo If it be necessary to restrain the bleeding, press 
firmly, for a few minutes, the nose between the finger and the thumb ; 
this alone will often stop the bleeding ; if it should not, then try what 
bathing the nose and the forehead and the nape of the neck with water, 
D^uite cold, will do. If these plans fail, try the effect of either powdered 
alum or of po^vdered matico, used after the fashion of snuff — a pinch 
or two either of the one or of the other, or of both, should be sniffed 
up the bleeding nostril. If these should not ansv/er the purpose, 
although they almost invariably will, apply a large lump of ice to the 
nape of the neck, and put a small piece of ice into the patient's mouth 
to suck. 

If these methods do not succeed, plunge the hands and fore- arms 
into cold water, keep them in for a few minutes, then take them out^ 
and either hold, or let be held up, the arms and the hands high above 
the head ; this plan has frequently succeeded when others have failed. 
Let the room be kept cool, throw open the windows, and do not have 
many in the room to crowd around the patient. 

A local anaesthetic — the ether spray — playing for a few seconds to 
a minute on the nose and up the bleeding nostril, would act most bene= 
ncially in a severe case of this kind, and would, before resorting to the 
disagreeable operation of plugging the nose, deserve a trial. 

In case of a young lady fainting, lay her flat upon her back, taking 
cure that the head be as low as, if not lower than, the body ; throw 
open the windows, do not crowd around her, unloosen her dress as 



342 HOW TO PREVENT DISEASE. 

quickly as possible ; ascertain if she have been guilty of tight 
lacing ; for fainting is sometimes produced by that reprehensible prac- 
tice. .Shakespeare knew the great importance of not crowding around 
a patient who has fainted. He says : 

**So play the foolish throngs with one that ST?oons; 
Come all to help him, and so stop the air 
By which he should revive." 

Apply smelling-salts to her nostrils ; if they be not at hand, burn 
a piece of rag under her nose ; dash cold water upon her face ; throw 
open the window ; fan her, and do not, as is generally done, crowd 
round her, and thus prevent a free circulation of air. As soon as she 
can swallow, give her either a draught of cold water or a glass of 
wine or a teaspoonful of sal-volatile in a wine-glassful of water. 

To prevent fainting for the future, we would recommend early 
hours ;• country air and exercise ; the stays, Is worn at all, to be worn 
slack ; attention to diet ; avoidance of wine, beer, spirits, excitement 
and fashionable amusements. 

Sometimes the cause of a young lady fainting is either a disordered 
stomach or a constipated state of the bowels. If the fainting have 
been caused by disordered stomach, it may be necessary to stop the 
supplies, and give the stomach for a day or two, but little to do ; a 
fast will frequently prevent the necessity of giving medicine. 0( 
course, if the stomach be much disordered, it will be desirable to con- 
sult a medical man. 

A young lady's fainting occasionally arises from debility — from 
downright weakness of the constitution ; then the best remedies will 
be, change of air, good nourishing diet, and the following strengthen- 
ing mixture : Take of Tincture of Perchloride of Iron, two drachms ; 
Tincture of Calumba, six drachms ; Distilled Water, seven ounces. 
Two tablespoonfuls of this mixture to be taken three times a day-' 
Or, for a change, the following : Take of Wine of Iron, one ounce 
and a-half ; Distilled Watei , six ounces and a-half ; to make a Mix- 
ture. Two tablespoonfuls to be taken three times a day. 

Iron medicines ought always to be taken after instead of before : 



HOW TO PREVENT DISEASE. 343 

meal. The best times of the day for taking either of the above mix- 
tures will be eleven o'clock, four o'clock and seven o'clock. 

Standard Remedies for Costiveness. 

The best opening medicines are— cold ablutions every morning of 
the whole body, attention to diet, variety of food, bran-bread, grapes, 
stewed prunes, French plums, figs, fruit both cooked and raw™-if it 
be ripe and sound, oatmeal porridge, lentil powder, vegetables of all 
kinds, especially spinach, exercise in the open air and early rising. If 
more attention were paid to these points, poor schoolboys and 
schoolgirls would not be compelled to swallow such nauseous and 
disgusting messes as they usually do to their aversion and injury. 

Should these plans not succeed (although in the majority of cases, 
with patience and preseverance, they will) we would advise an enema 
once or twice a week, either simply of warm water, or of one made 
of gruel, table-salt and olive-oil, in the proportion of two tablespoon- 
fuls of table-salt, two of oil and a pint of warm gruel, which a boy 
may administer to himself, or a girl to herself, by means of a proper 
enema apparatus (syringe). 

Use of W^ater. 

Hydropathy is oftentimes very serviceable in preventing and in 
curing costiveness ; and, as it will sometimes prevent the necessity of 
administering medicine, it is both a boon and a blessing. Hydro- 
pathy supplies us with various remedies for constipation. From the 
simple glass of cold water, taken early in the morning, to the various 
douches and sea-baths, a long list of useful appliances might be made 
out, among which we may mention the " wet compresses " worn fot 
three hours over the abdomen (bowels), with a gutta percha covering. 

We have here a word or two to say to a mother who is always 
physicking her family. It is an unnatural thing to be constantly 
dosing either a child or anyone else with medicine. One would 
suppose that some people were only sent into the world to be 
fc)hysicked. If more care were paid- to the rules of health, very littk 



344 HOW TO PREVENT DISEASE. 

medicine would be required. This is a bold assertion, but we are 
confident that it is a true one. It is a strange admission for a medical 
man to make, but, nevertheless, our convictions compel us to avow it. 
The principal reason why girls suffer more from costiveness than 
boys, is that theii habits are more sedentary ; as the best opening 
medicines in the world are an abundance of exercise, of muscular 
exertion, and of fresh air. Unfortunately, poor girls in this enlight- 
ened age must be engaged, sitting all the while, several hours every 
day at fancy-work, the piano, and other accomplishments ; theyj, con- 
sequently, have little time for exercise of any kind. 

Medicines Lose their Effect. 

The bowels, as a matter of course, become constipated ; they are^ 
therefore, dosed with pills, with black draughts, with old-fashioned 
brimstone and molasses — Oh ! the abomination I — and with medicines 
of that class, almost ad infinitum. What is the consequence ? Open- 
ing medicines, by constant repetition, lose their effects, and, therefore, 
require to be made stronger and still stronger, until, at length, the 
strongest will scarcely act at all, and the poor unfortunate girl, when 
she becomes a woman, if she ever does become one, is spiritless, 
heavy, dull, and listless, requiring daily doses of physic, until she 
almost lives on medicine. 

All this misery and wretchedness proceeds from nature's laws 
having been set at defiance, from artificial means taking the place of 
natural ones — from a mother adopting as her rule and guide fashion 
and folly, rather than reason and common sense. When will a mother 
awake from her folly and stupidity ? This is strong language to 
address to a lady ; but it is not stronger than the subject demands. 

Appeal to American Mothers. 

Mothers of America! do let us entreat you, ponder well upon what 
we have said. Do rescue your girls from the bondage of fashion and 
'^f folly, which is worse than the bondage of the Egyptian taskmaster; 
'for thi Israelites did, in making bricks without straw, work in thi 



1 



HOW TO PREVENT DISEASE. 



345 



open air—*' So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the 
land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw;" but your girls, 
mziuy of them, at least, have no work, either in the house or in the 
open air — they have no exercise whatever. They are poor, drawling, 
dawdling, miserable nonentities, with muscles, for the want of proper 
exercise, like ribands ; and with faces, for the lack of fresh air, as white 
as a sheet of paper. What a host of charming girls are yearly sacrificed 
at the shrine of fashion and folly. 

Another, and a frequent cause of costiveness, is the bad habit of 
disobeying the call of having the bowels opened. The moment there 
is the slightest inclination to relieve the bowels, instantly it ought to 
be attended to, or serious results will follow. Let us urge a mother 
to instil into her daughter's mind the importance of this advice. 

Face Pimples and Blotches. 

Hard red pimples (acfte — " the grub pimple ") are a common and 
an obstinate affection of the skin, affecting the forehead, the temples, 
the nose, the chin, and the cheeks ; occasionally attacking the neck, 
the shoulders, the back, and the chest ; and as they more frequently 
affect the young, from the ages of fifteen to thirty-five, and are dis- 
figuring, they cause much annoyance. 

These pimples are so well known by most persons as scarcely to 
need description ; they are conical, red, and hard ; after a while they 
become white and yellow at the point, then discharge a thick, yellow- 
colored matter, mingled with a whitish substance, and become covered 
by a hard brown scab, and lastly, disappear very slowly, sometimes 
very imperfectly, and often leaving an ugly scar behind them. To 
these symptoms are not unfrequently added considerable pain, and 
always much unsightliness. When these little cones have the black 
head of a " grub " at their point, they constitute the variety termed 
spotted acne. These latter often remain stationary for months, without 
increasing or becoming red ; but when they inflame they are in nowise 
different in their course from the common kind. 

We find, ill these cases, great benefit to be derived from bathing th^ 



346 HOW TO PREVENT DISEASE. 

face, night and morning, with strong salt and water — a tablespoonful 

of table-salt to a teacupful of water ; by paying attention to the 

bowels ; by living on plain, wholesome, nourishing food ; and by 

taking a great deal of outdoor exercise. Sea-bathing, in these cases,. 

is often very beneficial. Grubs and. worms have a mortal antipathy to 

salt. 

What To Do for Gum-boils. 

A decayed root of a tooth sometimes causes inflammation and 
abscess of the gum, which abscess breaks, and thus becomes a gum- 
boil. 

Foment the outside of the face with a hot camomile and poppy- 
head fomentation, and apply to the gum-boil, between the cheek and 
the gum, a small white bread and milk poultice which renew fre- 
quently. Four poppy heads and four ounces of camomile blows to be 
boiled in four pints of water for half an hour, and then to be strained 
to make the fomentation. Cut a piece of bread, about the size of the 
little finger — without breaking it into crumb — pour boiling hot milk 
upon it, cover it over, and let it stand for five minutes, then apply the 
soaked bread over the gum-boil, letting it rest between the cheek and 
the gum. 

As soon as the gum-boil has become quiet, by all means have the 
affected tooth extracted, or it might cause disease, and consequently 
serious injury of the jaw ; and whenever the patient catches cold there 
will be a renewal of the inflammation of the abscess and of the gum- 
boil, and as a matter of course, renewed pain, trouble and annoyance. 
Moreover, decayed fangs of teeth often cause the breath to be oflensive. 

Removal of Corns. 

The best remedy for a hard corn is to remove it. The usual 
method of cutting, or of paring a corn away, is erroneous. The fol- 
lowing is the right way : Cut with a sharp pair of pointed scissors 
around the circumference of the corn. Work gradually round and 
round and towards the centre. When you have for some considerable 
distance well-loosened the edges, you can either with your fingers or 



HOW TO PREVENT DISEASE. 347 

with a pair of forceps generally remove the corn bodily, and that 
without pain and without the loss of any blood ; this plan of treating 
a corn we can recommend to you as being most effectual. 

If the corn be properly and wholly removed it will leave a small 
cavity or round hole in the centre, where the blood-vessels and the 
nerve of the corn — vulgarly called the root — -really were, and whichj 
in point of fact, constituted the very existence or the essence of the 
corn. Moreover, if the corn be entirely removed, you will, without 
giving yourself the pain, be able to squeeze the part affected between 
your finger and thumb. 

When to Use the File. 

Hard corns on the sole of the foot and on the sides of the foot are 
best treated by filing — by filing them with a sharp cutting file (flat on 
one side and convex on the other) neither too coarse nor too fine in 
the cutting. The corn ought once every day to be filed, and should 
be continued until you experience a slight pain, which tells you that 
the end of the corn is approaching. Many cases of hard corn that 
have resisted every other plan of treatment, have been entirely cured 
by means of the file. One great advantage of the file is, it cannot 
possibly do any harm, and may be used by a timid person— -by one 
who would not readily submit to any cutting instrument being appHed 
to the com. 

The corns between the toes are called soft corns. A soft corn is 
quickly removed by the strong Acetic Acid, which ought to be 
applied to the corn every night by means of a camel's-hair brush. 
The toes should be kept asunder for a few minutes, in order that the 
acid may soak in; then apply between the toes a small piece of 
cotton wool. 

In the generality of cases the plans recommended above, if prop- 
erly performed, will effect a cure ; but if the corn, from pressure or 
from any other cause, should return, remove it again, and proceed as 
before directed. If the corn have been caused either by tight or by 
ill-fitting shoes, the only way to prevent a recurrence is. of course, to 



348 HOW TO PREVENT DISEASE. 

have the shoes properly made by a clever shoemaker—by one who 
thoroughly understands his business, and who will have a pair of lasts 
made purposely for the feet. 

Best Remedies to Destroy a "Wart. 

Pure nitric acid, carefully applied to the wart by means of a small 
stick of cedar wood — a camePs-hair pencil-holder — every other day, 
will soon destroy it. Care must be taken that the acid does not touch 
the healthy skin, or it will act as a caustic to it. The nitric acid should 
be preserved in a stoppered bottle, and must be put out of the reach 
of children. 

Glacial Acetic Acid is another excellent destroyer of warts ; it 
should, by means of a camel' s-hair brush, be applied to each wart, 
every night just before going to bed. The warts will, after a few apph* 
cations, completely disappear. 

Weak and Delicate Young Lradies. 

What are the causes of so many young ladies of the present day 
being weak, nervous, and unhappy? The principal causes are — 
ignorance of the laws of health, nature's laws being set at nought by 
fashion and by folly, by want of fresh air and exercise, by want of occu- 
pation, and by want of self-reliance. Weak, nervous, and unhappy. 
Well they might be. What have they to make them strong and 
happy ? Have they work to do to brace the muscles ? 

The diseases peculiar to girls are Chlorosis, or Green-sickness, 
and Hysterics. Chlorosis is caused by torpor and debility of the 
whole frame, especially of the womb. It is generally produced by 
scanty or by improper food, by want of air and of exercise, and by too 
close application within doors. Here we have the same tale over 
again — close application within doors, the want of fresh air, and of 
exercise. When will the eyes of mothers be opened to this important; 
subject — ^the most important that can engage their attention. 

The remedies for this have been named, and when properly applied 
isrill prove to be effectual. 




THE HEART AND LUNGS. 



HOW TO PREVENT DISEASE. 84§ 

If health were more and fashion were less studied, chlorosis would 
not be such a frequent complaint. This disease generally takes its 
i-ise from mismanagement — from nature's laws having been set at 
defiance. We have heard a silly mother express an opinion that it is 
not genteel for a girl to eat heartily. Such language is perfectly 
absurb and cruel. How often, too. a weak mother declares that a 
healthy, blooming girl looks like a milkmaid. It would be well ii 
she did. How true and sad it is that a pale, delicate face, and clear 
eyes, indicative of consumption, are the fashionable desiderata ?*• 
present for complexion. 

Nature's Greatest Beautifier. 

A grov/ing girl requires plenty of good nourishment — as much as 
her appetite demands ; and if she have it not, she will become either 
chlorotic, or consumptive, or delicate. Besides, the greatest beautifier 
in the world is health ; therefore, by a mother studying the health of 
her daughter, she will, at the same time, adorn her body with beauty. 
We are sorry to say that too many parents think more of the beauty 
than of the health of their girls. Sad and lamentable infatuation. 

Nathaniel Hawthorne, our distinguished American, gives a graphic 
description of a delicate young lady. He says : " She is one of those 
delicate, nervous young creatures, not uncommon in New England, 
and whom I suppose to have become what we find them by the gradu- 
ally refining away of the physical system among young women. 
Some philosophers choose to glorify this habit of body by terming it 
spiritual ; but in my opinion, it is rather the effect of unwholesome 
food, bad air, lack of out-door exercise, and neglect of bathing, on the 
part of these damsels and their female progenitors." 

Nathaniel Hawthorne was right. Such ladies, when he wrote, were 
not uncommon ; but within the last few years to their great credit, be 
it spoken, " a change has come o'er the spirit of their dreams," and 
they are wonderfully improved in health ; for, with all reverence be it 
spoken, " God helps them who help themselves," and they have helped 
themselves by attending to the rules of health. 



350 HOW TO PREVENT DISEASE. 

"The women of America," says an excellent authority, "are grow* 
ing more and more handsome every year for just this reason. They 
are growing rounder of chest, fuller of limb, gaining substance and 
development in every direction. Whatever may be argued to the con- 
trary, we believe this to be a demonstrative fact. When the rising 
generation of American girls once begin to wear thick shoes, to take 
much exercise in the open air, to skate, to play more, and to affect the 
saddle, it not only begins to grow more wise but more healthful, and 
which must follow as the night the day — more beautiful." 

If a young girl had plenty of wholesome meat, varied from day to 
day, either plain roast or boiled, and neither stewed, nor hashed, nor 
highly seasoned for the stomach ; if she has had an abundance of 
fresh air for her lungs ; if she had plenty of active exercise, such as 
skipping, dancing, running, riding, swimming, for her muscles ; if her 
clothing were warm and loose, and adapted to the season ; if her mind 
were more occupied with active and useful occupation, such as house- 
hold work, than at present, and if she were kept calm and untroubled 
from the hurly-burly and excitement of fashionable life, chlorosis 
would almost be an unknown disease. It is a complaint of rare occur- 
rence with country girls, but of great frequency with fine city ladies. ■ 

When sickness comes, intelligent efforts must be made to master it. 

Many of the achievements of the healing art to-day read like miracles. 

There is something charming and delightful in the feelings of a patient 

recovering from a severe illness , it is like a new birth ; it is almost 

worth the pain and anguish of having been ill to feel quite well again ; 

everything around and about him wears a charming asoect and a 

"^•oseate hue. 

" See the wretch that long has tossed 
On the thorny bed of pain 
Again repair his vigor lost, 
And walk and run again. 
The meanest flow'ret of the vale. 
The simplest note that swells the gale, 
The common air, the earth, the skies„ 
To him are opening Paradise." 



PART IV. 

Female Beauty and Accom- 
plishments. 



CHAPTER XXV. 
Personal Appearance. 

A Subject ot X3niversal Interest — Ivooking Only to Immediate Effect — How to 
Assist Nature — Fashionable Ignorance — Nostrums and Quack Cosmetics- 
Evening Dissipation — Exposure of Health — A Simple Toilet the Best — Harmful 
Dress — Barbarous Decorations — Conditions on which Personal Beauty Depends 
— Neglect of Mind and Body — Cleanliness — Temperance in Al 1 Things — Turn 
ing Night into Day — Abuse of Digestion — Sickly Paleness — How Female 
Loveliness is Lost — Delicate Women — Painted Simpletons — Derangement of 
the Pulse — Hygiene of the Greeks. 

MUCH labor is frequently employed, and much expense incurred, 
to improve and preserve the personal appearance, and to 
endow it with new charms, or to increase those which it 
already possesses. Unfortunately, however, although much thought 
and ingenuity are often expended, or rather wasted, on the subject, 
the peculiar conditions, physiological, hygienic, and social, on which 
female beauty depends, are either only slightly regarded, or partially 
acted on, when known, and more frequently neglected altogether. 

With some persons, immediate effect, at whatever sacrifice, and 
irrespective of consequences, is deemed of more importance than either 
health or personal cleanliness, or appropriate modes of dressing ; and 
in few, indeed very few, instances is anything beyond the '' mere out- 
side effect of the passing hour" for a moment regarded. Hence it is, 
that, in scarcely any other portion of thedciily routine of life do persons 

351 



352 PERSONAL APPEARANCE!. 

more egregiously err than in the means they adopt to carry out theii- 
wishes in this respect. 

In general, not a single thought is devoted to the vital functions of 
the body, or to the structure and offices of the parts to which they 
devote their most laborious efforts ; yet, on a due attention to these 
points, both health and the personal appearance — even beauty itself^ 
'lepend. "Are the means I employ natural, or do they assist nature ? 
— are they the most efficient and rational? — are they harmless or 
injurious?" — are questions that are seldom self-asked in the privacy 
of the boudoir, dressing-room or bed-chamber. 

And why is this so ? A reply could be easily given, and we have 
no doubt many of our readers can furnish one. Habit and example, 
and thoughtlessness and indolence, and not infrequently ignorance 
and vanity are the powers which generally occasion the various con- 
ceits, practices and negligence just alluded to. 

Nostrums and Cosmetics. 

Although there is not a single subject on which people generally 
exhibit, in private, more anxiety than on their toilet, or one in which 
they are more deeply interested than their personal appearance, there 
is, perhaps, none on which they take so little trouble to obtain correct 
information. The fashionable belle and the anxious beau alike adopt 
the suggestions of some ignorant coquette or " dude," and submit 
themselves to cosmetic treatment, with a degree of resignation and 
satisfaction, if not of delight, which under any other circumstances 
would be truly enviable. 

Others, as well as those just noticed, scan with eager eyes the 
advertising columns of the morning papers in search of some expen- 
sive and often injurious nostrum, which its vendor boldly proclaims 
possesses the power of imparting beauty and renewing the bloom of 
youth and health upon the faded cheek, or of conferring the luxuri- 
ance and rich tints of Circassia or Georgia on hair which dissipation 
or the hand of time has rendered scanty or streaked with gray. The 
thoughts of such parties are entirely confined to the passing moment. 



PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 353 

the next soiree, the next ball, the next promenade or the next opera ; 
and, as observed by a recent eminent author, their vision beyond 
these events becomes entirely dimmed. 

But the errors in these matters arising from indolence, thoughtless- 
ness and indifference to consequences — the desire to save time, 
trouble and expense — are greater than those already mentioned, and 
are probably more numerous than all the others put together. Hence 
it is that every fashionable ball or party, every opera-night and every 
concert adds to the number of the hapless victims of consumption or 
some other fell disease, and tinges the pallid cheek with the hectic 
flush or the sallowness that marks their incipient stages. 

Improprieties of Dress and Toilet. 

With some persons — perhaps, we might say with most persons — 
the duties of the toilet are of a very simple character, being limited 
to mere acts of cleanliness, and the use of the ordinary hair and skin 
cosmetics. Others go further, but it is all in the same direction ; 
their thoughts not extending to those numerous and more important 
matters without which a pleasing personal appearance, much less 
beauty, cannot long exist. Among unpolished and ignorant people 
this is more especially the case. As civilization and refinement and 
education advance, this attention, or rather misapplication of the atten- 
tion, lessens. 

This is particularly the case where the art and science of medicine 
and physiology have made much progress. In our own country and 
elsewhere, during the last half-century, the members of the medical 
faculty have continually directed public attention to improprieties of 
dress and the toilet ; and happily with such success, that much of the 
grossness in these particulars that distinguished former periods has 
gradually died out and passed away. 

Many articles of dress, and practices which were once thought use- 
ful or beneficial, or at the most harmless, have thus been exposed, 
and their use either abandoned or rendered less injurious by the 
removal of their objectionable features. The present century is pro- 



S54 PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 

verbially one of progress, and, perhaps, in no one point is it more 
distinguished than in the improveoient which it has produced in the 
social manners, dress and toilet of the people. 

In the infancy of society and in savage life, immediate effect is the 
only object desired or thought of Consequences are not regarded, 
from not being investigated and known. Pigments are adopted, 
bandages and compression used on various parts of the body, without 
tne slightest hesitation, or reference to their ultimate effects. And 
when consequences were observed, they were generally put down to 
any cause but the right one, and arguments were not wanting to 
lessen the apparent evils, or to palliate their continuance. 

Due to Vanity and Ignorance, 

This palpable incongruity between reason and action is certainly 
surprising; it is surprising that such should ever have existed, but it 
is still more surprising that such usages, even in a modified form, 
should have been transferred from barbarism to civilization. Their 
existence, in any shape, in countries in which civiHzation and refine- 
ment have made the greatest progress, must depend on individual 
vanity and ignorance, and not be chargeable to the general 
community. 

In every stage of society, in all ages of the world, the labors of 
the husbandman have been directed toward the improvement and 
permanent welfare of his crops and live-stock, and not to mere present 
appearance, hasty development or gaudy growth. He regards them 
in every aspect, and under every circumstance, of climate, season, 
soil, and the previous and present condition of each class he nurses 
or cultivates. Without this he knows that his crops, or the produce 
of his labors, will be defective and unprofitable. 

Interest leads him to this course. The blessings of increased fertility 
and prolificness and a more abundant harvest are his reward. Is it 
not wonderful, then, that when the interests of their own bodies are 
concerned, when the health iind personal appearance are at stake, 
not only for a period, but probably for life, that rational bein^^ should 



PERSONAL APPEARANCE, 



355 



be so careless of themselves, and so indifferent of the future, when 
they exercise so much care over the humbler objects of creation ? 

The habits of life of many persons are justly said to be utterly 
opposed to the permanent enjoyment of health, and utterly subversive 
of the conditions essential to the existence and permanence of per- 
sonal beauty, or even a pleasing appearance. Witk others, the dress 
is such as to prove equally prejudicial ; and with an equally large 
number the system and means employed in the daily operations of 
the toilet are not less objectionable. 

You Should Know Yourself. 

The apparent neglect and indifference just alluded to is correctly 
stated, by a recent high authority, to be not occasioned by any direct 
or intentional disregard of the importance of the subject — not that 
persons care little whether they be right or wrong : on the contrary, 
it arises simply from the general apathy and contempt with which it is 
the habit of most persons to treat any examination into the nature 
and principles of matters connected with daily life ; any mixture of 
science with matters falsely supposed to be necessarily trite and 
unworthy of serious consideration. 

Some persons will evince much pleasure in attending a popular 
scientific lecture on some subject probably too abstruse for them to 
understand ; but to devote a few minutes to the chemistry of their 
homes and every-day life, or to the structure and functions of their 
own bodies, or the physiology of their own existence, would excite 
in them a smile. We are apt to associate the familiar with the trite 
and vulgar, and to be vulgar would outrage the feelings of the veriest 
fop or belle in existence. But if familiarity be capable of producing 
the vulgar and the trivial, then life, health, beauty, even intellect itselfj 
must indeed be both. 

Such facts and arguments as these are indubitable. From infancy 
to age — from poverty to wealth — health, cleanliness, personal comfort, 
and a pleasing appearance, are, and must ever continue, the first 
matters of consideration. The welfare of the infant, the child, the 



356 PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 

youth, the adult, are, in different degrees, dependent on them. They 
are also necessary to the aged, and perhaps even more so ; not merely 
for their own well-being, but on account of those younger than them- 
selves around them. 

By rigid attention to them, and by a judicious occupation of the 
mind on pleasing subjects, instead of letting it fall back upon itself, 
much of the vigor and agreeableness of youth may be retained to 
a late period of life. 

Essentials of Sound Health. 

In the personal and social duties just referred to, there is no royal 
road to pursue — no real secrets to learn. We have only to divest 
ourselves of the bias which custom or habit, or example, has impressed 
m us, and to follow the natural instincts of our nature, as directed by 
science, experience, and reason. There are certain matters necessary 
to life, and essential to our well-being, such as air, food, sleep, exer- 
cise, retention and excretion, the passions, etc., which, from not actually 
forming a part of the living body, were called by the older physicians 
the ** non-naturals." ^ 

Attention to these is as essential to the preservation of the health 
as it is to life ; and through the health, of the personal appearance and 
comfort of the individual. These are matters, indeed, which are not 
merely essential auxiliaries of the qualities and endowments referred 
to, but are actually the very foundation on which not only they, but 
even the enjoyment of life, depends. Look, for instance, at the influ- 
ence which temperance, exercise, regular habits, and cleanliness, exert 
on the health and personal charms. 

Let us go into fashionable life, as affording strong examples of the 
neglect or disregard of all of these except the last one, and that in a 
quarter where we might reasonably, from the rank and education of 
the parties, the least expect to find it. Temperance includes modera- 
tion at table, and in all the enjoyments which the world calls pleasure; 
and regular habits include the recurrence of the appropriate meals 3>: 
proper intervals, and the avoidance of late hours. These are thiiv^* 



PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 357 

which are, unfortunately, utterly disregarded among the better classes 
of society, and more particularly in fashionable life. 

Let us follow a youthful beauty of rank and fashion from the time 
of rising in the morning until her artificial day is ended, during what 
is called the "season." In a state of languor and nervous feverish- 
ness, and with a feeble appetite, the results of the late hours and 
excitement of the preceding night, she enters the breakfast-room at 
the early (!) hour of nine, or, more generally, ten or later. Her 
breakfast probably consists of strong coffee with cream, hot rolls (!) 
and butter, and perhaps, occasionally, a small portion of grilled fowl, 
all of which, except the coffee, she has scarcely sufficient energy 
to take and no appetite to enjoy. 

Damaging Food and Adulterated Drinks. 

Then a long exhausting fast not infrequently succeeds, ending in 
dinner at six or seven in the afternoon or evening, the day, up to this 
hour, being miscalled morning in fashionable life. At dinner she sates 
her appetite, rendered keen by long privation, with highly-seasoned 
soups, fish covered with melted butter and exciting sauces, me^ 
roasted, boiled, fried and stewed, game, pies, puddings, tarts, pre- 
serves, followed by the grapes, oranges, indigestible almonds and 
filberts, ice-creams, and other fruits and dehcacies that form the 
dessert; the whole being diluted and blended, and finally ** washed 
down," not merely with water from the crystal fount, but with wine, 
generally more or less adulterated or poisoned by trade-admixtures, 
miscalled improvements. 

Then come the evening's amusements — the soiree, the ball, the 
opera, the theatre, the late supper — exposure, thinly clad, to rapid 
transitions of temperature and draughts, in passing from the heated 
room or building to the carriage, and the journey in the carriage 
home, at which she arrives during the early hours of the morning, 
and sometimes not until the sun has risen, and the healthy working 
girl has commenced her labor for the day. Then comes the opera- 
tion of being unrobed and unjewelled, before she can retire to bed— 



358 PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 

a bed into which she sinks almost helpless and exhausted, and from 
•.vhich she rises feverish and unrefreshed. 

Is it any wonder that such a mode of living should, ere long, 
Jcrange the stomach, and, by creating bilious disorders, gradually 
•nge the skin with a wan or sallow hue? Is it any wonder that such 
.ong fasts, such injudicious feeding, such exhausting habits, such late 
hours, such exposure, the conversion of night into day and day into 
night, and the want of sufficient rest and sound sleep, should soon 
become visible in the features, and make the looking-glass of the 
fashionable belle a monitor — alas! an unheeded monitor — of her 
gradually waning charms and health? 

Sallow Faces and Scrawny Leanness. 

Under such habits as those just described, it is no wonder that the 
firm yet delicate texture of the skin gives place to flabby softness, and 
those delicate portions on which personal beauty depends yield to 
scraggy leanness or ungraceful, shapeless fat. The once fair skin 
assumes a sickly paleness and an uninviting rigidity, or a coarse and 
bloated redness, according to the particular constitution of the victim, 
but which, in their incipient forms, the vain, deluded creature regards 
as the mere maturing of her health and beauty. 

To repair their ravages, the aid of a dressmaker and the cosmetic 
artist is called in. There is padding to give shape or plumpness where 
there is none ; corsets and belts to reduce, by compression, the exuber- 
ant mass of flesh ; and washes, powders, and paints, to rectify the 
dingy, pallid, or coarse complexion. But all this is useless ; high 
living, late hours, immoderation, and dissipation have done the work, 
and female loveliness is lost forever, unless the pursuit of pleasure be 
at once abandoned, and moderation and regular and natural habits be 
returned to. 

Though a lady be as fair as Hebe, as graceful and chaste as Diana, 
and as beautiful and fascinating as Venus herself, she would soon lose 
her loveliness and charms by indulgences and habits such as these. 
Were it not for the greater cleanliness of the fashionable classes, the 



PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 



359 



frequent use of the bath, and their being better clothed than their less 
fortunate brethren, the consequences of their violations of the natural 
laws would fall on them even more heavily than they now do„ 

Let us mark the effects of improper food, defective ventilation, and 
want of cleanliness. These evils exhibit themselves in the unhealthy 
features, the broken health, the frequent cases of consumption, fevers, 
and skin diseases, and other ailments affecting the health and personal 
appearance, so commonly met with. It is only the active nature of 
their occupations, and the pecuniary inability of most of such persons 
to indulge in excesses, either in eating or drinking, that prevent these 
things being still more common than they already are. 

The immediate and intimate relations of health to the personal 
appearance cannot be too often pointed out, and should be thoroughly 
Understood and acted on in the every-day affairs of life. 



The True Basis of Personal Beauty, 

Health is soundness of body, with the due performance by its sev- 
teral parts of all their natural functions, both separately and in unity. 
This is ** bodily " or '^ physical health," A like perfect exercise of the 
functions of the mind constitutes *' mental health." The union of the 
two is necessary to the development of beauty, and to the existence 
of true corporeal and mental enjoyment. 

Unsoundness of the body, or the disorganization of any of its func- 
tions, generally produces a corresponding effect upon the mind, in 
some portion or other of its manifestations and uses ; and when the 
mind is seriously diseased, the bodily health frequently, indeed gener- 
ally, degenerates. 

The exceptions chiefly include those rare and vast developments of 
the mind commonly called ** genius," though even these are generally 
accompanied with a delicate state of health, and sometimes with dis- 
ease ; and those striking exhibitions of bodily health and vigor, where 
" reason seems to have given up half its dominion to instinct and 
muscular strength." In each case there is exaggeration of the one 
and defect of the ot4xer. Perfect health exists only when the functions 



360 PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 

of both body and mind are properly exercised, and duly balanced to 
each other. 

Disease, either "physical" or "mental," is the reverse of health. 
Any unsoundness, any disarrangement, organic or functional, involves 
its presence. The existence of disease, or even of any defect of health 
approaching it, is soon developed in the features, and is, therefore, 
injurious to the personal appearance, and is incompatible with the 
existence, or, at all events, the permanency of personal beauty. 

On the promotion and preservation of the health chiefly depend 
the improvement of the personal appearance, and the maturity and 
maintenance of personal beauty. The deHcate nature of the formation 
and functions of the human body is such that propriety and regularity 
of dress, living, and the like, are of more importance than is generally 
supposed, or than some members of the medical profession are ready 
to admit. Do not abuse your own body. 

Why Personal Charms Decay. 

It is, however, a demonstrable fact, that, apart from the vicissitudes 
of climate and season, and mere accidental circumstances against 
which foresight is unable to guard, the neglect of these matters is 
alone sufficient to account for fully one-half of the maladies and suffer- 
ings which " flesh is heir to." 

The body must be properly nourished and its heat maintained by 
appropriate food ; it must be properly clothed to meet the vicissitudes 
of climate, situation, weather, and individual constitution ; it must be 
freely exposed to the influence of light, air, warmth, and the like, and 
it must be kept clean, and enjoy regularity and sufficiency of 
exercise, sleep, and all the habits necessary to mere animal as well as 
polished life, for the full exercise of its numerous delicate functions, 
and the possession of perfect health. 

Without these matters are attended to, the health will fail, and no 
efforts of dressing, no toilet, however complicated and laborious, no 
subtle cosmetics will be capable of preserving the personal charms 
from certain and rapid decay. 



PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 



361 



The true criteria of the existence of health, and the "barometer" 
by which its energy may be estimated, are presented to man by 
nature in the personal appearance, freedom, and ability of muscular 
motion, and the possession of an unclouded mind. In like manner, 
the approach and inroads of disease, and even a state of delicate or 
indifferent health, are negatively perceptible by the diminution or 
absence of these qualities, and of the ordinary expression of the 
features. 

A certain sign of disease or disordered health is to be found in the 
derangement of the pulse. It is known from observation and experi- 
ence that the pulsations of the arteries depend on the alternating 
action of the heart, and are correspondent, if not actually synchronal, 
to it. Any deviation from the natural standard in the heart's action, 
therefore, affects the frequency and particular character of these pulsa- 
tions, which thus furnish a ready index to the state of circulation, and 
through it to the condition of the body. 

The Pulse Tells the State of the Body. 

The pulse at the wrist, from the convenience of its situation, is that 
generally selected for examination. By simply counting the number 
of its beats per minute, and observing the particular manner in which 
they are given, a very good general idea may be formed of the state 
of the system at the time, even by the uninitiated, and thus the pre- 
sence or approach of disease may be detected. 

In health, the "pulse" of the adult varies from 60 to 80 beats per 
minute, unless it be excited or depressed by the influence of mental 
emotions. The average in the adult male is 72. If its rate is below 
65, debility or a lax state of the system is indicated; and if it is 
habitually above 75, some exciting or disturbing cause may be 
suspected. 

In females the pulse is usually lower than in males, 65 to 66 beats 
per minute being about the average ; but in those of a feeble or lax 
habit it is not infrequently as low as 60. 

In inhr.zy and childhood the pulse is much quicker than in the 



362 PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 

adult. During the "first twelve-month" it ranges from 105 to 125 
beats per minute; during the "second year," from 90 to no; during 
the "third year," from 85 to 100; whence its rate gradually lessens 
until the "sixth" or "seventh" year, when its average is 70 to 75, at 
about which it keeps for some years after. Towards puberty, it 
usually quickens and becomes excitable, after which it gradually 
settles down into the rate peculiar to the constitution or habit of the 
individual. 

The pulst is insiantly affected by mental emotions. Those of a 
violent and exciting kind frequently send it up to 130, or even 145 
beats per minute ; whilst those of a depressing nature will sink it to 
50, and, in extreme cases, render it for a short time scarcely percepti- 
ble. Both of these extremes frequently kill — the first, by loading the 
vessels, particularly those of the brain, with blood ; the other, by so 
retarding the circulation of the arterial blood, that there is an insuffi- 
cient supply of it for the purposes of life. In some fevers the pulse 
reaches even 140 beats per minute. It also commonly varies a little 
during the day, being influenced by digestion, exercise, labor, sleep, 
rest, etc. 

The blessings of health have been universally appreciated by man- 
kind, and in the highest degree by those nations, ancient and modern, 
most distinguished for ijeir civilization and refinement. Among the 
polished nations of antiquity the "principle of health" was deified, 
and was made an object of adoration and sacrifice. The "Hygeia" 
of the classical Greeks occupied a very notable place in their 
mythology, and in the most beautiful fictions of their poetry. 

Under different names, her worship was general among all the 
ancient eastern nations. Her statues, which were numerous and of 
the most chaste description, represented her with a large serpent 
curled round her body, and drinking out of a cup which she holds in 
her hand, symbolical of her being the fountain of life and health* 



CHAPTER XXVI. 
Bathing for Health and Beauty. 

Beauty a Thing to be Prized — Personal Cleanliness — Vast Influence of Soap and 
Water — Choked Perspiration — Secretions of Skin and Teeth — Contagious 
Poisons — Fruitful Sources of Ill-health — Impoverished Blood — The Tepid 
Bath — Ablutions Among Jews and Mohammedans — Dirt and Disease — Com- 
mon Neglect of Bathing — Bath-houses in Europe — The Jolly Frenchman — 
Sea-bathing — Directions for Using the Warm Bath — Right Temperatures of 
the Water — Exercise and Beauty. 

LET us again refer to the value — the importance — the divine influ- 
ence of beauty in a world — a universe — where all is beautiful. 
A recent writer on the subject has asked : '' What is the use of 
beauty ? Is it intended merely to amuse the fancy for a time, and then 
pall, fade, and be forgotten ? In a system where nothing else is lost, 
where all is fitness and coherence, and where each part, however 
minute, seems as necessary to the whole as a single link is to the con- 
tinuity of a chain, is this quality alone without definite meaning or 
permanent purpose?" And he answers the question by observing 
that '' analogy is against the supposition, and we must either set down 
beauty as an unmeaning superfluity in the scheme of the creation, or 
else assign it an importance commensurate with the space it occupies 
in our thoughts." Every rational man will do the latter. 

** Then let us not, like thoughtless fools, despise 
The things of earth which are the things of beauty. 
All beauty here hath but one aim and mission — 
To guide our spirits to that heavenly portal, 
Which, to the earth-chained spirit, is a vision 
Of beauty all unchanging, all immortal." 

Cleanliness is a subject of such importance to our well-being that 
little need be said in its favor, were it not that many persons who 
loudly declaim about it are negligent of it themselves. That it i& 
essential to the health, comfort, and personal appearance of the indi- 
vidual, is so generally admitted, that even those who do not practice 

363 



364 BATHING FOR HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 

it are compelled, by their feelings of decency and propriety, to speak 
in its praise. 

In favor of personal cleanliness it is impossible to speak too highly 
or to say too much. It enhances every charm, and creates new ones 
peculiar to itself It invigorates all the numerous functions of the 
body and of the mind. It is capable of rendering the most ordinary 
agreeable, and even the sick and the deformed companionable. Beauty 
itself without its talismanic influence ceases to attract, or soon palls 
and satiates the senses it so lately ravished. It is a mark of politeness 
and good breeding, and is capable of inspiring the most refined senti- 
ments, affections, and passions. Without it man is unfitted for social 
intercourse, and his presence in company would prove a manifest cause 
of offence. 

Test of Civilization and Refinement. 

It has been justly observed that, "the different nations of the world 
are as much distinguished by their cleanliness as by their arts and 
sciences. The more they are advanced in civilization and refinement, 
the more they consult this part of politeness." No one perfectly clean 
in his person can be absolutely disagreeable ; whilst no amount of 
personal charms in features, figure, or complexion, can render an 
individual companionable without it. 

Addison regarded cleanliness as the foster-mother of affection, and 
as the most enduring of all the auxiliaries of personal beauty. 

" Beauty commonly produces love, but cleanliness preserves it. 
Age itself is not unamiable whilst it is preserved ck.an and unsullied ; 
like a piece of metal constantly kept smooth and bright, we look on 
it with more pleasure than on a new vessel that is cankered with rust.'* 
But cleanliness is not only agreeable to others, and one of our social 
duties — it is pleasurable and serviceable to ourselves. Irrespective of 
its influence on the health and personal charms, its practice has been 
declared, by one of our recent and highest authorities, to be incom- 
patible with many of the vices that prove destructive to both the body 
and the mind. 

'* Through the prevalence of custom the most vicious habits lose 



I 



BATHING FOR HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 



BOB 



their horror by being made familiar to us. On the contrary, those 
who live in the neighborhood of good examples, fly from the first 
appearance of what is shocking or vicious, and thus pure and unsullied 
thoughts are naturally suggested to the mind by those objects which 
perpetually surround us, when they are beautiful and elegant in their 
kind." 

In its relations to health, personal cleanliness is of the very highest 
importance. During life, the skin is continually subjected to abrasion, 
and continually undergoing the processes of reproduction and decay, 
by which the cuticle or scarf-skin, its exterior portion, is being con- 
stantly thrown off, as effete and useless matter, in the shape of very 
minute scales of dust. This, mingling with the oily, saline, and aqueous 
matter of the perspiration, and the waste particles of the dress, dust, 
^tc, acquires sufficient adhesiveness to attach itself to the surface of 
the body and to the clothing. 

The Skin, Like the Lungs, Must Breathe. 

In this way, unless the accumulation be daily removed by friction 
and washing, the channels of the perspiration become choked, and 
the functions of the skin, as a respiratory organ, interfered with, or 
even partially suspended. At the same time the clothing, and par- 
ticularly the body linen, becomes loaded and contaminated with the 
exuviae of the skin, the solid portion of the perspiration, and the 
ordinary exhalations from the body, and unless frequently renewed, 
is rendered unwholesome and unfit for use. The hair, too, becomes 
loaded with scurf and dust, and the pores of the skin under it choked 
with the exuviae, etc., before referred to, by which the hair-bulbs 
''are strangled, as it v/ere, in the performance of their natural 
functions." 

The teeth "accumulate organic particles in their interstices, and 
their enamel becomes encrusted with the minute (microscopic) 
skeletons of animalculae that populate the mucous secretions of the 
mouth." All these are prejudicial to health, personal beauty, and 
refined enjoyment, and may be removed by the simple acts of clean- 



366 BATHING FOR HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 

liiiess which should be practiced by all, and to which reference cannot 
be too frequent or urgent. 

The ill consequences of uncleanliness, and particularly of a dirty 
skin — a skin loaded and obstructed with adhering refuse matter dis- 
carded by itself — are numerous and serious. Such matter forms a 
favorable medium for the absorption, and the transmission to the 
internal portions of the body, of noxious effluvia, vapors and gases, 
miasmata, and the aerial germs of infectious and contagious diseases. 

How "We Become Poisoned. 

It is said that the greater part of (contagious) poisons are con- 
veyed to us through the external surface of our bodies ; and it is fully 
proved that poison already communicated has been by cleanliness* 
removed before it could actually produce any bad effects. We here 
allude, in particular, to frequent washing, bathing, rinsing the mouth, 
combing and brushing the hair, and often changing the linen, clothing, 
and bedding. 

Such are the immediate effects of neglected ablution of the skin, 
and the neglect of other acts of personal cleanliness ; the further con- 
sequences are of an equally serious character. The blood being 
deprived of one of its sources of oxygen, and of one of the outlets ol 
its carbon and saline matter, becomes deteriorated, the functions of 
nutrition imperfect, and the temperature of the body lessened. The 
matters that should be thrown out of the system through the skin are 
retained, and have to be eliminated by other organs. The lungs, the 
kidneys, the liver, the bowels, are each, in their turn, overtasked to 
perform the functions of another organ. 

At length they suffer from exhaustion, the health is disturbed, and 
incipient disease follows. The predisposition exists, and only waits 
for an exciting cause to give it full development. The period of 
incubation may be short or long — weeks, months, even years- 
according to the age and constitutional vigor of the person ; but the 
evil day comes at last, and skin-diseases, nervous affections, diarrhoea, 
liver-complaints, consumption, dropsy, visceral obesity or some other 



BATHING FOR HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 30T 

serious disease of the vital organs ensues, destroying the last remnan 1:3 
of beauty and rendering life uncomfortable, if not a burthen. 

A lady of vast discernment and of equal experience in these 
matters, herself as lovely and fascinating as she was accomplished, 
in addressing her sister that formed her audience, observed : ** An 
important, and, I might say, the principal receipt which I shall give 
you for the promotion and preservation of your beauty, is cleanliness, 
thorough cleanliness, in the most extended sense of the word. It is 
an indispensable thing. 

" It maintains the skin in its softness, the complexion in its lustre 
and natural hue, the limbs in their pliancy, the whole frame in its 
vigor and fairest light, the mind in its purity and the spirits in the 
buoyancy of youth irrespective of age and condition. The frequent 
use of tepid water to the person, and particularly of the tepid bath, is 
not less grateful to the senses than it is salutary to health and beauty. 
It is by such ablutions that accidental corporeal impurities are thrown 
off, cutaneous eruptions removed, and, while the surface of the body 
is preserved in its original purity and brightness, many threatening 
and beauty-destroying disorders are prevented." 

Religious Use of Water, 

Washing or purification with water forms part of many of the cere- 
monials of the older religions of the world. Among the ancient 
Jews, ablutions were performed by both the priests and the people, 
and, with some modifications, they are still practiced by this strange 
people at the present day. The ceremony of " purification " by 
means of water is frequently referred to in the Old Testament. 
Among the Mohammedans, ablutions form part of their devotions, 
and are enforced in the Koran. It is generally thought that these 
ceremonies were originally instituted among the Jews, with the view 
of promoting the sanitary condition of the people, and that Moharn' 
med followed the example of the Jewish lawgiver. 

What further considerations and what further inducements than 
^Jiose just given need be offered to enforce the necessity of personal 



368 BATHING FOR HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 

cleanliness ? And when it is added that no dirty or neglected skin 
can long continue healthy, and ceasing to be healthy must also cease 
to be beautiful and pleasing, the argument in favor of the daily ablu- 
tion of the whole surface of the body, or of as large a portion of it 
as possible, with pure water, will surely be complete. 

A Stimulant for Mind and Body. 

However important and beneficial the free and frequent use of water 
for personal ablution may be, the effects arising from the immersion of 
the body in it, as in the practice of bathing, are far more extensive 
and complete. What the one does usefully, but not completely, Ihe 
other accomplishes readily, satisfactorily, and perfectly. There is no 
absolute substitute for the entire bath. Its physiological effects are 
peculiar to itself, and of the utmost importance in hygiene, p'athology, 
and medicine. 

Nor is the action of judicious bathing in the promotion of personal 
comfort and happiness, and personal beauty, less remarkable. Intel- 
lectual and moral vigor are also gradually but materially influenced 
and promoted by its beneficial action on the system ; for mind and 
conscience, being linked to matter in the *' house we live in," become 
perturbed, or lethargic, in almost exact accordance with the fluctuations 
of our physical health. 

The soul and mind cabined within the confines of a dirty skin can 
no more exercise their god-like prerogatives of highest reason and 
activity, than the prisoner in a felon's cell can exercise his limbs with 
the vigor and agility of a free man. Healthy imagination thus becomes 
dormant or extinguished, and conscience itself blunted or degraded 
into vice. 

The comparative neglect of bathing continually furnishes a subject 
of comment. This neglect is an enigma as difficult to solve as the 
fabled riddles of the Sphinx. We are always talking about health, 
and continually professing to be seeking it ; but the practical applica- 
tions of the principles which we advocate, and the doctrines which we 
teach, are, unfortunately, the exceptions and not the rule. 



BATHING 1<0R HEALTH AND BEAUTY. S6P 

In Europe, the bathing-houses are almost as numerous as the drug- 
gists' shops are in this country. Yet the French need the former less 
than we do, because they live more temperately, and are less ground 
down to think and work, and because they perform more general 
personal ablution with as much zeal as though it were a religious duty. 

" The Messieurs are wise enough to discover that life is not rendered 
one jot sweeter by passing sixteen hours a day behind the desk or 
counter, to the exclusion of all recreation, except recreation be to 
count the gains of such excitement, or to indulge the hope of amass- 
ing a sufficiency to do the ' comfortable and important ' at the close 
of a wearied life, which the infirmities of age forbid us to enjoy. A 
Frenchman lives, works, and enjoys himself to the last. Prince 
Talleyrand died in armor ; his life was a bouquet from which all but 
the sweetest flowers were excluded." 

French and Americans Contrasted. 

A Frenchman knows no ill but what pleasure denies. He rarely 
has dyspepsia, gout, rheumatism, or fevers. Half his life is spent in 
Elysium — half ours in purgatory. Indigestion, headaches, nervous- 
ness, restless nights — ^the " blues " when awake, and the " terribles " 
when asleep — fall to the lot of the mind-absorbed and money-making 
American, whilst our lively Parisian, with his light meal and still more 
lightsome body, finds trouble only in broken limbs, or in positive 
starvation. 

The preceding recommendation of bathing applies chiefly to the 
warm bath and the tepid bath, which are alike adapted to the delicate 
and the robust, and to every condition of climate and season. Cold 
bathing, in this climate, is only suited to the most healthy and vigor- 
ous, and can only be safely practiced during the warmer months of the 
year, and in a mass of water that has been for some hours exposed 
to the rays of the sun, and sufficiently large to permit of the heat of 
the body being maintained by swimming or other active exercise. 

The shower-bath is an exception to these remarks, and is a con-, 
venient and invigorating substitute for other forms of bathing. The 
24 



370 BATHING FOR HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 

plunge-bath is also a partial exception ; but it should be earefully 
avoided by those who are predisposed to heart disease or brain disease, 
or to congestion of any of the great viscera. We have known several 
fatal cases of apoplexy caused by it. Sea-bathing, from its stimulating 
arki invigorating action on the skin and the whole nervous system, is 
not only most agreeable, but highly salutary, when indulged in at the 
proper season. It has also the important advantage over bathing in 
fresh water, that persons seldom take cold from it. 

Sea-bathing, on account of its stimulative and penetrating power, 
may be placed at the head of those means which regard the care of 
the skin ; and it certainly supplies one of the first wants of the present 
generation, by opening the pores, and thereby re -invigorating the 
whole nervous system. Besides its great power in cases of disease, it 
may be employed by those who are perfectly well, as the means most 
agreeable to nature for strengthening the body and preserving the 
health. As an agent for promoting and preserving the softness and 
delicacy of the healthy skin, and the bright hues of complexion, it is, 
however, inferior to the warm bath and the tepid bath. 

Soft Water and Good Soap. 

For ordinary bathing to produce its best effects, the water should 
be soft and pure, and a little good soap sparingly but regularly 
employed whenever the state of the skin requires it. Hard water 
tends to make the skin rough and course, and is not so cleansing as 
pure, soft, natural water. 

After leaving the ordinary bath, a tepid, or even a cold shower-bath, 
may be taken with advantage. By employing distilled water for the 
latter, either alone or combined with a little rose-water {eau de rose)^ 
or orange-flower water, the luxury and effectiveness of the bath is 
increased. The addition of three or four ounces of glycerine to this 
water further improves it, and causes it to impart to the skin a delicacy, 
and a delightful sensation of softness, obtainable by no other means. 

The opinion that the warm bath is relaxing, which we sometimes 
hear expressed by those who are practically unacquainted with its use, 



BATHING FOR HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 



371 



IS erroneous. It is only so when persons remain in it too long, or 
take it too often. As a rule, fifteen to twenty minutes is a sufficiently 
long space of time to indulge in it; and the best part of the day is 
either immediately before retiring to rest, or before dressing in the 
morning ; preferably the first, as a night of refreshing sleep is almost 
sure to follow it. 

Neither this nor any other bath should be taken on a full stomachy 
nor soon after a meal. It is better to allow a couple of hours to 
elapse before doing so. Nor are those who indulge in a warm bath 
more liable to take cold than others. On the contrary, they are less 
so, unless they wilfully expose themselves, insufficiently clad (par- 
ticularly about the neck and chest), to draughts of cold air. 



Right Temperature for Bathing. 

The warm bath ana the tepid bath are adapted to every age of life. 
The first is particularly congenial to the young, the delicate, and those 
declining in years. By means of it these last can often not only 
retard the effects of time upon them and prolong their lives, but pre- 
serve to themselves the faculties and personal feelings and enjoyments 
of their former years to a ripe old age. 

The Duke of Wellington, after leading the trying life of a soldier 
and a man of the world until about the middle age, adopted the prac- 
tice of taking a warm bath daily, and thus preserved his faculties and 
surprising vigor until the period of his death, an event which happened 
from an accidental surfeit, rather than from decay by age. 

It may be useful to the reader to know the ranges of the tempera- 
ture of water appropriate to the respective baths. These are given in 
*--he following table : 





Temper 


iture Fahrenheit. 


Name. 


Range. 


Common average. 


Cold bath . . . . 


33° to 75° . 


. . 50° to 55° 


Temperature bath . 


75 „ 82 . 


. . 78 „ 80 


Tepid bath .... 


82 „ 90 


. 85 „ 86 


Warm bath . . . . 


90 „ 98 


. . 93 „ 94 


Hot bath 


98 ., 112 


. ... 105 „io6 



572 BATHING FOR HEALTH AND BEAUTY. 

The preceding remarks have reference to personal cleanliness, but 
it may be also observed here, that domestic or household cleanliness 
is scarcely less important. Without it the air within our homes would 
be perpetually vitiated, and the blessings of light and ventilation, and 
of salubrity of situation, rendered abortive. 

Of public cleanliness it has been said that it does the same for our 
Greets and our highways that the others do for our persons and 
dwellings. Without it the purity of the air of our cities and towns 
would be impaired and rendered insalubrious, and, in many cases, 
actually noxious and pestilential. All these forms of cleanliness are 
essential to the health, happiness, and well-being of man living in 
civilized communities. 

Another subject to which we will briefly allude, before closing this 
chapter, is exercise — exercise in the open air, in situations exposed to 
refreshing breezes and the genial sunlight. Without this all othei 
efforts to preserve the body in vigorous health fail. It is a natural 
tonic and cosmetic, and is essential to give the glow of health to the 
otherwise pallid cheek, and to keep it there. 

Nature teaches us, in the gambols and sportiveness of the lower 
animals, that bodily exercise is necessary for the growth, vigor, and 
symmetry of the frame ; whilst the too studious scholar and the 
indolent man of luxury exhibit in themselves the pernicious conse- 
quences of the want of it. Many a rich lady would give thousands 
of dollars for the full-rounded arm and the peach-bloom on the cheek 
of her kitchen-maid. Well ! might she not have had both by the 
same amount of exercise and the simple and natural mode of living ? 

The poet tells us that — 

"Health is the vital principle of bliss, 
And exercise of health." 



CHAPTER XXVII. 
Beautiful Skin and Complexion. 

A. Garment of Surpassing Loveliness — Structure of the Skin — Pores for Perspira 
tion — Absorbent Vessels — How to Beautify the Skin — Effect of Heat and 
Cold — Ablution— Anointing — Recipes for Skin Washes — Effect of Sunlight- 
Benefits of Friction — Flesh-gloves — Diseases of the Skin — Black Spots and 
Marks — Boils — Blueness and Discolorations — Dandruff — Pimples — Itch — Scaly 
Eruptions — Treatment for Skin Ailments — Freckles — Moles — Paleness- 
Roughness — Redness — Scurf and Scurvy — Pits from Small-pox — Wrinkles— 
Abrasions — Bruises — Bums and Scalds — Cuts and Incised Wounds — Excoria- 
tions — Frost-biteis — Scars. 

EVERY person knows what the skin is, its external appearance 
and its general properties ; but there are many of our readers 
who may not be aware of its peculiar and wonderful construc- 
tion, its compound character and its manifold uses. It not merely 
acts as an organ of sense and a protection to the surface of the body^ 
but it clothes it, as it were, in a garment of the most deHcate textuir 
and of the most surpassing loveliness. 

In perfect health it is gifted with exquisite sensibility, and while it 
possesses the softness of velvet and exhibits the delicate hues of the 
lily, the carnation and the rose, it is nevertheless gifted with extraor- 
dinary strength and power of resisting external injury, and is not 
only capable of repairing, but of actually renewing itself Though 
unprotected with hair, wool or fur, or v/ith feathers, or scales, as with 
the brute creation, the human skin is furnished with innumerable 
nerves, which endow it with extreme susceptibility to all the various 
vicissitudes of climate and of weather, and prompt the mind to pro- 
vide suitable materials, in the shape of clothing, to shield it under all 
the circumstances in which it can be placed. 

The horse, the dog, the Hon, cannot change its hair or the bear its 
fur, even though it be transported to a climate the reverse of that in 
which it was born ; it must alike wear the robe of Nova Zembla undei 

373 



574 BEAUTIFUL SKIN AND COMPLEXION. 

the scorching sun of Africa, or that of the tropics on the frozen plains 
of Siberia, and it will dwindle from this change, and probably perish ; 
but man can suit his clothing to the latitude, and rove from clime to 
clime with comparative impunity. His intelligence enables him to 
shield his skin from all the " skyey influences " with proper raiment, 
and his taste leads him so to select and prepare this raiment as to 
serve both for the protection and adornment of his person. 

Three Layers or Membranes. 

The skin, though apparently a single membrane, is composed of 
three distinct layers or membranes, each of which has special duties 
to perform. The exterior of these, or that one which immediately 
meets the eye, is called the cuticle, epidermis or scarf-skin. It is of 
uneven thickness, in some parts being extremely thin and delicate, and 
in others, particularly those exposed to friction, thicker and harder ; 
in this respect being accommodated to the nature of the part it covers. 
It is an albuminous tissue, and in its general physical and chemical 
properties, for the most part, resembles the nails and the quills of 
birds, from which it differs chiefly in degree of induration. 

It is destitute of feeling and of absorbent power, and thus fulfils its 
duty as a protective covering of the body in a more effective manner 
than it otherwise would do. Throughout its whole surface it is 
thickly pervaded with minute pores, to permit the escape of the per- 
spiration and other exhalations from the body. Its reparation and 
renewal are carried on at its under surface, whilst its damaged, worn- 
out and useless portions are thrown off in the form of whitish dust oi 
minute flakes or scales. 

Immediately under the cuticle, and resting on the cutis, is the 
mucous network. It is a thin layer of soft, pulpy matter, of a fibrous 
character and reticular form, and appears to be the seat of the color 
of the skin, with the hue of which it always coincides. It may be 
temporarily blanched by the action of weak solutions of chlorine, 
chloride of lime, and other bleachers. 

Beneath the mucous network, and forming the third, last in succession 



BEAUTIFUL SKIN AND COMPLEXION. 375 

inwards, and principal tegumentary covering of the body, is the derma 
or true skin. It is a highly sensitive, vascular, gelatinous texture, of a 
very complex structure. It is of a whitish color and fibrous, and 
appears to be made up of an irregular species of network. Closer 
examination shows it to be composed of condensed cellular tissue, and 
to be very thickly supplied with absorbent and excretory vessels, and 
with arteries, veins, and nerves. 

A Most Delicate, Perfect Structure. 

It is here that the minute capillaries of the arteries spread them- 
selves out, and, by means of the ducts of the sudorific glands or 
follicles, exhale the peculiar secretion which we call perspiration ; here 
the so-called roots of the hair terminate, and find nourishment ; and 
here all the other functions of the skin are performed. It is this por- 
tion of the tegumentary covering of the body that gives the relative 
thickness to the whole skin ; and it is the one which, when the scarf- 
skin and hair are removed, is converted into leather by the processes 
of tanning. 

Such is the general structure of the human skin, so complicated 
and yet so perfect, so delicate and yet so useful. As a protective 
natural covering of the body, in conjunction with the animal senses, 
instincts and appetites, and, above all, with an intelligent free-will, it 
surpasses that of any other animal. It is absolute perfection. It 
combines within itself the pov/ers of an organ of sense, of excretion, 
secretion, respiration and nutrition. The integrity of its functions is 
not only highly conducive to health, but is absolutely essential to its 
perfect enjoyment, to both corporeal and mental vigor, and to beauty. 
Surely the preservation and promotion of this excellence, and the 
removal or alleviation of the effects of disease and accident that impair 
it, deserve our serious attention. 

In health, the management of the skin is extremely simple, and 
consists chiefly in habitual cleanliness and daily personal ablution, as 
noticed in the preceding chapter. To preserve the softness of its 
texture, and the delicacy oi its hues, it is also necessary to protect it, 



376 BEAUTIFUl SKiN AND COMPLEXION. 

as much as possible, from external influences and all external accidents 
capable of injuriously affecting it. 

Exposures to the extremes of heat and cold, sudden and extreme 
changes of temperature, and the vicissitudes of weather and climate, 
tend to destroy its natural sensibility, to thicken and harden it, to 
render it coarse and rough, and, by causing the obstruction and rupture 
of its capillary arteries, to impart to it a streaky, ruddy, weather- 
beaten appearance. Drying winds, whether hot or cold — the east and 
northeast, for instance, in this climate — also prove injurious, by carry- 
ing off the moisture which is essential to its suppleness and proper 
action ; and this, in extreme cases, to a degree sufficient to destroy its 
vitality, and even to produce chaps or fissures in it. 

How Sunlight Affects the Complexion. 

On the other hand, continual exposure to a moist atmosphere, oi 
humidity or aqueous vapor in any form, tends to relax it, to reduce 
its tone and hue, and to render it injuriously susceptible to the 
temperature of the surrounding air, as well as to changes of it. Light 
and shade also affect the skin, but in opposite ways. Constant 
exposure to diffused daylight and to sunlight, when not too vivid, for 
some little time daily, is favorable to the health and beauty of the 
skin, and improves the hue of the complexion ; but the direct rays of 
the sun, particularly the summer sunshine, when long continued, 
thicken and darken it, and sometimes, in persons peculiarly suscep- 
tible, even blister it, or cause the hardened cuticle to exfoliate. 

An insufficient exposure to light, on the contrary, causes the skin 
to assume a pale and sickly hue, and to become lax and unhealthy. 
To obviate the ill effect of the exposure and external influences just 
alluded to, the dry skin, after ablution or bathing, may be slightly 
anointed with some mild, simple oil, as that of the olive or the sweet- 
almond, as in the last operation of the ancient Roman bath, friction 
being at the same time employed, and the whole surface subsequently 
gently wiped with a napkin or towel. Modern chemistry has, how- 
ever, furnished us with glycerine, a substance which may be used 



BEAUTIFUL SKIN AND COMPLEXION. 377 

instead of oil, and has the advantage of being more cleanly, effective 
and congenial to the skin. 

By diluting this article with five or six times its bulk of pure water 
we have a wash or lotion which is not only capable of imparting deli- 
cacy, suppleness, and an agreeable sensation to the skin, but also of 
preserving it, to a very great extent, from the effects of heat and cold, 
drying winds, fervid sunshine, etc., as well as by its permanently 
softening power, preventing its induration from friction or pressure, 
and the formation of callosities on it. For this purpose the skin need 
only be thoroughly moistened with it, the excess of moisture being 
subsequently removed by means of a soft towel. 

Light and Beauty. 

The importance of the due exposure of the body to daylight or 
sunlight, just referred to, cannot be too strongly insisted on. Light 
and warmth are powerful agents in the economy of our being. The 
former especially is an operative agent on which health, vigor, and 
even beauty itself depend. Withdraw the light of the sun, with its 
actinic or chemical rays, from the organic world, and all its various 
beings and objects would languish and gradually lose those charms 
which are now their characteristics. In its absence, the carnation-tint 
leaves the cheek of beauty, the cherry-hue of the lips changes to a 
leaden-purple, the eyes become glassy and expressionless, and the 
complexion assumes an unnatural cadaverous appearance that speaks 
of sickness, night, and death. 

So pcwerful is daylight, so necessary to our well-being, that even 
its partial exclusion, or its insufficient admission to our apartments, 
soon tells its tale in the feeble health, the liability to the attacks of dis- 
ease, and the pallid features — vacant and sunken, or flabby, pendent, 
and uninviting — of their inmates. Even the aspect of the rooms in 
which we pass most of our time, and the number or extent of their 
windows, is perceptible, by the trained eye, in the complexion and 
features of those that occupy them. So in the vegetable world — the 
bright and varied hues of flowers depend on the sunlight. 



378 BEAUTIFUL SKIN AND COMPLEXION. 

In obscure light plants grow lanky and become pale and feeble, 
ciiey seldom produce flowers, and uniformly fail to ripen their seeds. 
In even partial darkness the green hue of their foliage gradually pales 
and disappears, and new growths, when they occur, are blanched or 
colorless. 

It is here also worthy of remark, that those persons who spend 
most of their time in apartments with an aspect ranging from the 
northwest to the northeast, and to which the direct rays of the sun 
thus never penetrate, are generally of pale complexion, with a languid 
expression of the features, and enjoy less vigorous health than those 
otherwise circumstanced. This is particularly the case with artists, 
whose studios are usually chosen with a northern aspect, for the sake 
of the equable and diffused daylight thus secured. 

Fevers and pestilential diseases generally, are always more frequent 
and severe among the inhabitants of such apartments than among 
those exposed for hours daily to the light of the sun. The actinic, or 
chemical rays of sunlight, are absolutely necessary to the enjoyment 
of vigorous health and the possession of beauty. The diffused light 
from a northern sky is deficient in these rays. 

Best Method of Ablution. 

The best method of keeping the skin clean and healthy by ablu-. 
tion and baths has been already generally alluded to, but here some 
further details may be given. The use of these, and the washing of 
the skin that forms part of the daily duties of the toilet, appear to be 
very simple matters, but writers on the subject differ in opinion as to 
the methods to be followed to render them perfect cleansers i>f the 
skin. 

Some of these regard the use of soap and water applied in the 
form of lather, with the hands, and afterwards thoroughly removed 
from the skin by copious affusions, rinsing or sluicing with water, of 
immersion in it, as the best method. This is probably the case when 
the skin is not materially dirty, or its pores or surface obstructed or 
loaded with the residual solid matter of the perspiration or its own 



BEAUTIFUL SKIN AND COMPLEXION. 379 

unctuous exudation and exuviae. To remove these completely and 
readily something more than simple friction with the smooth hand is 
generally required. 

In such cases the use of a piece of flannel or serge, doubled and 
spread across the hand, or of a mitten or glove without divisions for 
the fingers, and of the same material, will be found most ready and 
effective. Friction with this, first with soap, and afterwards with 
water to rinse the soap off, will be found to cleanse the skin more 
thoroughly and quickly than any other method, and, by removing the 
worn-out portion of its surface, to impart to it a healthful glow and 
hue that is most refreshing and agreeable. 

This effect will be increased by wiping and rubbing the surface 
thoroughly dry with a coarse and moderately rough, but not a stifif 
towel, instead of with the fine, smooth diapers, which are now so 
commonly employed. At the bath, the flesh-brush, usually provided 
there, will supersede the necessity of using the flannel. 

Friction Invigorates the System. 

It frequently happens that, owing to the locality or nature of one's 
residence, incessant occupation, deficient means or other circum- 
stances, baths, or even entire personal ablution, cannot be indulged in 
or only so occasionally. In such cases recourse may be had to dry 
friction, which may be carried to any extent short of actual irritation. 
This will be found not only capable of cleansing the skin, but advan- 
tageous from exciting the cutaneous circulation and invigorating the 
whole system as well as the skin. 

The instrument usually employed for the purpose is the flesh-brush, 
of which there are several varieties ; but those which have the 
bristles set on a leather back are usually thought to be the most 
effective and the best. The flesh-glove or flesh-rubber of hair is a 
useful and very convenient modification of the common flesh-brush.' 
Of these, that known as the " Indian kheesah " or " mitten " is supe- 
rior to all others. 

For the back, which cannot be easily operated on with the hand, a 



380 BEAUTIFUL SKIN AND COMPLEXION. 

flat band or belt of hair is employed. In the absence of flesh-brush, 
glove and belt, a coarse towel wound round the hand, or even a 
stocking with the hand thrust into it, may be employed. 

Apart from mere cleanliness, of which it is a ready and important 
means, the benefit of friction, which consists of motion and heat, 
whether or not the same be raised by rubbing the body with a coarse 
cloth or with the flesh-brush has advantages inconceivable and 
scarcely credible, by which the obstruction of the pores and the cuta- 
neous glandules are opened, their stagnating juices broken up, dis- 
solved, and rendered fit to be carried off in perspiration, in the room 
of which new juice will succeed with new vigor to the body, and Ion- 
gevity, as that great naturalist, Lord Verulam, well observes, is in this 
way most certainly promoted. 

Something Concerning Cosmetics. 

The daily vigorous use of the flesh-brush, or the flesh-glove, for 
those parts of the body covered with the clothing, independent of 
theraputic action peculiar to itself, is probably the most healthful, 
effective and ready substitute for the entire bath that can be employed 
under many of the circumstances by which we are frequently 
surrounded. Occasional personal ablution, or the use of the sponge- 
bath, after it, greatly increases its good effects. 

To promote the beauty of the skin, the assistance of art is frequently 
had recourse to, and this not always in the most judicious manner. 
All that is necessary for this purpose, under ordinary circumstances, 
may be said to consist in the restoration or promotion of the general 
health and vigor of the body, and the body, and the functions of the 
skin in particular, as previously indicated. Beyond this we should 
proceed with caution, and should exercise care, both in the adoption of 
general means, and the selection of special methods and applications 
to effect the objects desired. 

The external applications that are commonly employed for improv- 
ing the texture, clearness, and hue of the complexion, and of enhanc- 
ing or preserving its varied charms are " cosmetics." Many of them, 



BEAUTIFUL SKIN AND COMPLEXION. 381 

when judiciously selected and employed, are perfectly safe in use ; but 
others are the reverse ; and it may be said of nearly all of them, 
except simple soap and water, that they are seldom required, and that 
their habitual use is seldom unobjectionable when the general health 
is good and the skin is in a perfectly healthy state. 

Having noticed the general management of the skin in a state of 
health, a few remarks on it when diseased, or when its beauty is 
impaired by the effects of disease, medical treatment, accidents, or 
failing health, may prove interesting to the reader. 

Beauty Impaired by Disease. 

Diseases of the skin are very numerous and varied in their char- 
acter, and all of them more or less impair its beauty, whilst most of 
them disfigure it, and not a few render it loathsome, and their victims 
unfit for the social circle and society. It is, however, chiefly of those 
of a mild character, and of the milder forms of others, in which 
medical aid is seldom sought, and of the prevention and removal of 
their ill effects on the personal appearance, that we shall chiefly refer 
to here. 

The small black spots and marks frequently observed on the skin in 
hot weather, particularly on the face, generally arise from the accumu- 
lation of the indurated solid matter of the perspiration in its pores. 
When they assume the form of small pimples, and often when 
.otherwise, they may be removed by strong pressure between the 
fingers, or between the nails of the opposite fingers, followed by the use 
of hot soap and water. The subsequent daily application of a weak 
solution of bichloride of mercury, or of sulphate of zinc, will com- 
pletely remove the swelling, and generally prevent their re-formation, 

Boils are well-known inflammatory tumors of a superficial and 
more or less temporary character, which usually terminate by sup- 
puration. They generally attack the healthy and robust during youth 
and early manhood, and seldom trouble persons who have reached 
the middle age. Though very annoying, and in theif latter stages 
often painful, they are not dangerous. 



382 BEAUTIFUL SKIN AND COMPLEXION. 

Their treatment is very simple. When first they begin to form, 
they may sometimes be dispersed by friction with the fingers, lowering 
the diet, avoiding stimulating drinks, and by the use of mild aperients. 
When they exhibit persistency by gradual enlargement and increasing 
pain, it is advisable to promote their suppuration by the constant 
application of poultices of bread and linseed-meal ; or when this is 
inconvenient, by the use of warm, stimulating embrocations, or cover- 
ing them with some stimulating plaster. 

When the tumor is sufficiently mature, the matter should be 
evacuated by gentle pressure ; or, when the urgency of the case 
demands it, the head of the tumor may be carefully opened with a 
lancet, or the point of a very sharp penknife, or a needle. In either 
case the wound should be dressed, twice a day, with a little simple 
ointment spread on a piece of lint or a soft rag, and retained in its 
place by means of a bandage or a piece of adhesive plaster or 
strapping ; observing, at each renewal of the dressing, to press out 
any matter present in the tumor, and to thoroughly cleanse its surface 
by gently wiping or washing it. 

Treatment for Bad Blood. 

The pain and inflammation generally subside on the first discharge 
of the matter, and in a few days the wound heals. The diet may be 
full and liberal until the maturing of the tumor and the discharge of 
the matter, after which it should be reduced, and the bowels kept 
gently open for a few days by the use of some mild aperient. 

When there is a predisposition to the formation of boils, excess iq 
either eating or drinking should be particularly avoided, and care 
should be taken that the bowels act regularly once a day. Tonics, as 
bark, quinine, or steel, may be had recourse to with advantage ; as 
also the frequent use of the warm or tepid bath, or preferably, of sea- 
bathing, to keep the pores of the skin open. 

Unnatural blueness of the skin — the ** cyanosis " of pathologists — - 
is said to arise from malformation of the heart, and then is irremedi- 
phle The blueness or slate color produced by the long-continued 



BEAUTIFUL SKIN AND COMPLEXION. SSS 

administration of the salts of silver may, however, be generally less- 
ened and occasionally removed by the long use of iodide of potassium, 
both internally and in the form of baths. Nitric acid employed in the 
same way is sometimes serviceable, as are also chlorinated baths and 
lotions. 

Permanent discolorations of the skin, not of the preceding kind, are 
generally lessened and frequently removed by the daily and long- 
continued use of a glycerinated solution of bichloride of mercury. 
Others yield to a weak lotion of chloiide of lime, employed in the 
same way. Those of a very obstinate character may be treated with 
occasional blisters. The marks of gunpowder, particularly when pro- 
duced by ** tattooing" or rubbing it into small punctures made in the 
skin, are generally very durable, and removed with great difficulty. 
They often continue for life. 

To Remove Dandruff and Pimples. 

Dandruff is an exfoliation of the skin, which differs from common 
scurfiness, chiefly in occurring in reddish patches. In its exaggerated 
ibrms, when the patches are irregular, and the cuticle is thrown off in 
large scales, accompanied with much irritation, it forms the *' pityriasis " 
of pathologists, and the ''branny tetter" of the vulgar. Its treatment 
consist in extreme cleanliness, the frequent use of warm soap and 
water, and attention to the diet. 

Eruptions are too well known to require any lengthy description 
here. They are usually classified by writers on the subject into-^ 
animalcular eruptions, or those due to the presence of animalcula in 
the scarf-skin, which occasion much irritation, and of which the itch 
furnishes a well-marked example ; papular, eruptions or dry pimples ; 
pustular eruptions, or mattery pimples, of which some forms are 
popularly known as crusted tetters ; scaly eruptions, or dry tetters ; 
and vesicular eruptions, or watery pimples or vesicles. 

The treatment of all of the above, except the first, in simple cases, 
where there is not much constitutional disarrangement, consists mainly 
in attention to the general principles of health — cleanliness, exercise. 



384 BEAUTIFUL SKIN AND COMPLEXION. 

food, ventilation, and clothing. Occasional doses of mild saline 
aperients should be taken, and warm or tepid bathing, preferably in 
sea-water, or ablution in warm soap and water, frequently had recourse 
to. Stimulants of all kinds should be avoided, and the red meats, 
ripe fruits, and the antiscorbutic vegetables, should form a consider* 
able portion of the diet. 

Things Worth Remembering. 

Lemonade, made by squeezing the juice of a lemon into a half-pint 
Lumblerful of water, and sweetening it with a little sugar, should be 
frequently and liberally taken, as one of the best beverages in such 
cases. To relieve the itching and irritation (except in the pustular, 
crusted, and vesicular varieties), brisk friction with a flesh-brush, or a 
flesh-glove, may be employed. The parts should also be wetted with 
an appropriate lotion, after each friction or bath, or the use of soap and 
water. These lotions may consist of half a teaspoonful of salt of tartar, 
or of the juice of a large lemon, or a wineglassful of strong vinegar, to 
about three-quarters of a pint of pure water, one or two ounces of 
glycerine being in each case added. In the absence of glycerine, 
decoction of bran, or buttermilk, may be used. In the pustular and 
crusted varieties, two or three ounces of rectified spirit, or five or six 
ounces of good rum may be added, a like quantity of the water being 
omitted. 

When the habit of body is full and inflammatory, the diet should 
be lowered, and a depletive treatment adopted ; when it is the reverse 
the diet should be liberal, and, if necessary, a coarse of tonic medi- 
cine, as bark, quinine, steel, should be taken. Cod-liver oil also proves 
highly beneficial in all cases. 

Vigorous daily exercise, so as to produce natural perspiration, is an 
active curative agent in all skin diseases. Indeed, the best means of 
removing all the forms of obstinate eruptions and the predisposition to 
them, is to endeavor to restore the general health of the body in the 
manner which the existing circumstances may indicate. 

In trivial cases, where the space affected is not extensive, the daily 



BEAUTIFUL SKIN AND COMPLEXION. 385 

application of a weak solution of bichloride of mercury, or of sulphate 
of zinc, to which a little glycerine has been added, will be found 
effective, both for the removal of all the erdinary eruptions and the 
prevention of their recurrence. 

The small, hard, distinct pimples — "acne," or "acne simplex" of 
medical writers — that occur on the forehead, and occasionally on the 
temples and chin, generally yield to stimulating lotions consisting of 
equal parts of strong spirit or vinegar and water, or to weak lotions 
of sulphate of zinc, or of bichloride of mercury, assisted by occasional 
doses of cooling laxatives, as the saHnes, or a mixture of sulphur and 
cream of tartar. Let the treatment be thorough. 

Freckles on a Delicate Skin. 

Freckles, or the round or oval-shaped yellowish or brownish-yellow 
spots, resembling stains, common on the face and the backs of the 
hands of persons with a fair delicate skin who are much exposed to 
the direct rays of the sun in hot weather, are of little importance in 
themselves, and have nothing to do with the general health. Ladies 
who desire to remove them may have recourse to the frequent appli- 
cation of dilute spirit, or lemon-juice, or a lotion formed by adding 
acetic, hydrochloric, nitric, or sulphuric acid, or liquor of potassa, to 
water, until it is just strong enough to slightly prick the tongue. One 
part of good Jamaica rum to two parts of lemon-juice or weak vinegar, 
is a good form of lotion for the purpose. The effect of all these 
lotions is increased by the addition of a little glycerine. 

The preceding are also occasionally called " common freckles," 
*' summer-freckles " and " sun-freckles." In some cases they are very 
persistent, and resist all attempts to remove them while the exposure 
that produces them is continued. Their appearance may be pre- 
vented by greater use of the veil, parasol, or sunshade, or avoidance 
of exposure to the sun during the heat of the day. 

Another variety, popularly known as cold freckles, occurs at all 
seasons of the year, and usually depends on disordered health or 
some disturbance of the natural functions of the skin. Here the 



386 BEAUTIFUL SKIN AND COMPLEXION. 

only external application that proves useful is the solution of bichlo- 
ride of mercury and glycerine. 

The itch — '* psora " and " scabies " of medical authors, the " gale" 
of the French — already referred to, in its common form, is an erup- 
tion of minute vesicles, generally containing animalcula, and of which 
the principal seats are between the fingers, bend of the wrist, etc. It 
is accompanied by intense itching of the parts affected, which is only 
aggravated by scratching. 

The usual treatment is with sulphur-ointment (simple or compound), 
well rubbed in once or twice a day, a spoonful (more or less) of 
flowers of sulphur, mixed with molasses or milk, being taken at the 
same time, night and morning. Where the external use of sulphur 
is objectionable, on account of its smell, a sulphuretted bath or lotion, 
or one of chloride of lime, may be used instead. In all cases 
extreme cleanliness, with the free use of soap and water, is a sine qua 
non in the treatment. 

How Moles are Removed. 

The small soft discolorations and excrescences of the skin, popularly 
called moles, may be removed by touching them every second or 
third day with strong acetic or nitric acid, or with lunar caustic. If 
covered with hair, they should be shaved first. When this fails, they 
may be easily and safely removed by a very simple surgical operation. 

Extreme paleness of the skin, when not symptomatic of any pri- 
mary disease, generally arises from debility, or from the languid circula- 
tion of the blood at the surface of the body ; often, also, from insuf- 
ficient or improper food, want of out-door exercise, and the like. The 
main treatment is evident. Warm baths, friction and stimulating 
lotions and cosmetics may be here employed, together with a course 
of some mild chalybeate (as the lactate, protophosphate, or ammonia- 
citrate of iron) and hypophosphite of soda. 

Roughness and coarseness of the skin, when not depending on an> 
particular disease, may be removed, or greatly lessened, by daily fric- 
tion with mild unguents or oil, or by moistening the part, night and 



BEAUTIFUL SKIN AND COMPLEXION. 387 

morning, with a weak solution of bichloride of mercury containing a 
little glycerine. 

Rashes and redness of the skin of a common character often arise 
from very trifling causes, among which indigestion, suppressed per- 
spiration, irritation and the like are the most frequent. Nettle-rash, 
so called from the appearance and tingling sensations resembling those 
caused by the sting of nettles, in some habits of body is very apt to 
follow the use of indigestible and unwholesome food. It is usually 
of short duration and recurrent. 

Exciting Causes Must be Avoided. 

The treatment consists in the administration of mild saline aperi- 
ents, and, in severe cases, of an emetic, particularly where the stomach 
is still loaded with indigestible matter. These should be followed by 
the copious use of lemonade made from the fresh-expressed juice. 
The patient should be lightly but warmly clothed during the attack, 
and exposure to cold or to draughts of cold air should be carefully 
avoided. The further treatment may be similar to that noticed under 
eruptions. To prevent the recurrence of the attack the objectionable 
articles of food, and any other known exciting causes, must be 
avoided. 

Red rash, red blotch or fiery spot, a common consequence of dis- 
ordered health, a sudden fit of dyspepsia, and, in females, of tight- 
lacing, and rose-rash, false measles or roseola, having commonly a 
similar origin to the preceding, for the most part require the same 
treatment. 

Scurf — *' furfur " or '' furfura " — is a formation depending on the 
natural and healthy scaling off of the skin on every part of the body 
on which hair or down grows, but most extensive and observable on 
the scalp, on account of the abundance and darker color of the hair 
there. Scurfiness, or excessive scurfiness, is the result of morbid 
action, and may be treated by the frequent use of the flesh-brush or 
hair-brush, ablution with soap and water, and the use of mild, stimu- 
Uting, astringent or cleansing lotion«i 



388 BEAUTIFUL SKIN AND COMPLEXION. 

Scurvy — ''scorbutus" of medical writers — is a disease which, even 
in its incipient and early stages, when its presence is often unsuspected, 
is most injurious to the skin and the complexion. It usually com- 
mences with unnatural sallowness, debility and low spirits. As it 
proceeds, the gums become sore, spongy and apt to bleed on the 
slightest pressure or friction ; the teeth loosen, and the breath 
acquires a foetid odor ; the legs swell, eruptions appear on different 
parts of the body, and at length the patient sinks under general ema- 
ciation, diarrhoea and hemorrhages. 

Its chief cause is improper food, or rather the absence or insufficient 
supply of fresh meat and vegetables in the diet ; to which cold, 
humidity, want of exercise and fresh air may be added as secondary 
ones. Hence its frequent fatal visitations formerly on ship-board, and 
its still occasional occurrence in ill-victualled ships during long 
voyages. 

To Get Rid of "Pits.' 

The treatment mainly consists in adopting a liberal diet of fresh 
animal food and green vegetables, with ripe fruit and an ample allow- 
ance of lemonade made from the fresh- expressed juice. Effervescing 
draughts formed with bicarbonate of potash (not soda) are also very 
efficacious. In serious cases, tonics, as quinine and steel, should also 
be administered. 

Small-pox — "■ variola " of the medical profession — is a malignant, 
contagious disease, which, happily for society, owing to the general 
practice of vaccination, is now comparatively seldom met with, 
^Ithough, at no very remote date, it was very common and fatal 
m this country. Its medical treatment, owing to the severity and 
danger of the disease, does not properly fall within the province of 
the present work. The prevention and removal of its ill effects on the 
personal appearance will, therefore, be alone spoken of here. 

To prevent the permanent disfiguration of the skin by the pustules 
of small-pox, called " pitting " or " pock-marks," various plans are 
adopted, the chief and most certain of which have for their object the 
exclusion of the light and air. The application, on the third day, of a 



BEAUTIFUL SKIN AND COMPLEXION. 389 

mask formed of calico or thick muslin, freely covered with mercuriaj 
ointment, and having holes cut in it for the nostrils, eyes and mouth, 
will, in general, fully effect this object. It may be renewed every 
other day, or daily, if necessary ; an operation which is best performed 
by candlelight ; and ics use should be continued until the symptoms 
of the disease disappear. 

Another plan, highly spoken of, is to completely coat the entire 
face with gold-leaf. The application of gold-beater's skin, in a similar 
manner, is also an effective method, particularly if its slightly moistened 
surface be afterwards dusted over with some dark powder, as lamp- 
black, or black-lead, to render it opaque. The excess of powder that 
refuses to adhere, after dabbing it with a soft wad of cotton-wool, may 
be blown off with the breath or a pair of bellows. The puncture of 
the pustules as soon as they are mature has also been recommended 
to prevent " pitting ; " a plan which may be adopted either by itself, or 
conjointly with one of those already mentioned. 

Bodily Vigor Means Beauty. 

These methods should be supported by keeping the patient com- 
fortably cool, on a mattress, in a cool and well-ventilated apartment 
into which little light is admitted, antiseptic cooling drinks being at the 
same time freely taken. 

The removal of *' pock-marks," particularly old ones, is a matter of 
greater difficulty and time than their prevention. In common cases 
the continued use of a tepid glycerinated ioduretted lotion twice a day, 
or daily gentle friction with warm oils slightly ioduretted, will produce 
a manifest improvement, and ultimately wholly or in part remove 
them. The long-continued daily use of glycerinated solution of bichlo- 
ride of mercury will also frequently do the same, and will invariably 
lessen them. Warm sea-water baths are likewise useful, and may be 
taken at the same time. 

Wrinkles and looseness of the skin depend chiefly on the attenua- 
tion of the cutis, or true skin, and the reduction in the bulk of the 
underlying surfacial portions of the body. They cannot be regardecf 



390 BEAUTIFUL SKIN AND COMPLEXION. 

as a disease of the skin, but are the result of long-continued bad 
health, anxiety and study, and of general emaciation and old age. 
Cleanliness, nutritious food, vigorous out-door exercise, agreeable 
occupation of the mind, and an equable and happy temper, retard 
their formation. Whatever tends to promote the general health, and 
to increase the bulk of the body, and particularly the deposition of 
fat in the cellular tissues, also tends to remove them, and to increase 
the smoothness and beauty of the skin. 

The free and frequent use of warm soap and water, followed by the 
daily use of mild, stimulating, cosmetic lotions or fomentations, or 
friction with warm oil of a like character, and cod-liver oil internally, 
is all that art can do for the purpose. 

Bruises, Burns, and Scalds. 

Among injuries and disfigurements of the skin from wounds, 
medical treatment, accidents, and the Hke, may be loentioned : 
Abrasions or superficial injuries of the skin arising from tne partial 
removal of the cuticle by friction, in most cases merely require to be 
protected from dirt and further injury, in any convenient manner. 
A piece of lint or soft rag, or of common sticking-plaster or strapping, 
or gold-beater's skin, is suitable for this purpose. When the surface 
is extensive or irritable, the lint may be advantageously spread with 
a litt'e spermaceti-ointment or cold-cream before applying it. 

In all cases, any adhering dirt, sand or gravel should be first 
/emoved by the affusion of warm or tepid water, or by means of a 
soft sponge and water. The marks left by them usually disappear in 
a short time of themselves. When this is not the case, they may be 
treated in the manner noticed under ** scars." 

The marks left by blisters, irritating ointments and lotions, etc., 
may also be treated like scars or the marks left by eruptions, as 
pointed out elsewhere. 

Bruises or contusions, unless serious, do not require special atten- 
tion, and usually disappear in a few days of themselves. The treac- 
n^-iit, if any be adopted, may consist in fomenting the part with warm 



BEAUTIFUL SKIN AND COMPLEXION. 391 

water, or in friction with a little opodeldoc or soap-liniment, or harts- 
horn and oil. If there be much inflammation, the part may be freely 
bathed with a lotion of weak gou lard- water, or with vinegar and 
water. 

The treatment of burns and scalds essentially consists in protecting 
the part from the air and light. When the injury is superficial and 
slight, a little creosote may be applied, and the part then covered with, 
a dressing of yellow basilicon (resin-cerate), or other simple ointment, 
or with a bandage rendered air-tight by means of thick solution of 
gum or starch, or white of Qgg. Gold-beater's skin, india-rubber 
court-plaster or sticking-plaster and collodion are admirably adapted 
for the purpose, the last being preferable whenever it is at hand. 

You Should Know What to Do. 

Collodion is a solution of gun-cotton (pyroxiline) in ether to which 
a small portion of alcohol has been added. It is only necessary to 
drop it on the wound or surface, previously wiped clean. It instantly 
spreads and solidifies into a solid, adhesive and highly protective skin 
01 jilm. It is also highly useful in abrasions, cuts, raw wounds pro- 
duced by violence, etc. When the part is very hot and painful, a 
large poultice of linseed-meal, to which a liberal portion of lard has 
been added, and on the surface of which a few drops of creosote have 
been spread, is a suitable application. It should not be changed 
sooner than the following day. Cooling lotions may also be applied 
to the surrounding parts. If the injury be a scald, the vesicle or 
bladder should be snipped with a pair of scissors, or freely pierced 
with a needle, and the water which it contains gently squeezed out, 
before applying any of the preceding dressings. 

In all ordinary cases of a serious character, cooling laxatives should 
be administered, and the diet should be rather low until the inflamma- 
tory symptoms subside. The marks left by burns are always more or 
less permanent, but they may be often reduced or rendered less con- 
spicuous by the treatment mentioned under scars, etc. 

Cuts and incised wounds, as well as others of a like character, after 



392 BEAUTIFUL SKIN AND COMPLEXION. 

being freed from blood and dirt by means of a piece of lint or soft rag, 
or, better, when large, by the affusion of water, or with a soft sponge 
and water, should have their sides drawn close together, and retained 
in their places, by means of a piece, or small pieces, of strapping or 
adhesive plaster. This dressing should not be meddled with for a 
couple of days, by which time the wound will usually have begun to 
heal. 

To Stop Local Bleeding. 

When the wound is large, or when the nature of the part renders 
adhesive plaster insufficient, the usual plan is to sew it up, for which 
purpose the assistance of a surgeon must be sought. In more serious 
cases, to prevent the accession of inflammatory symptoms, the part 
should be kept constantly covered with a cold-water dressing, A little 
creosote dropped on the wound, previously freed from blood, or a 
small piece of lint or soft rag wet with this liquid and then bound over 
it, will generally stop local bleeding of this kind, when not extensive. 
A film of collodion is also very effective. Compound tincture of ben- 
zoin, quick-drying varnish, copperas-water, black ink, etc., are also 
popular styptics applied in the same way. 

Excoriations, in popular language, are those cases of soreness pro- 
duced by chafing under the arms, behind the ears, between the thigh 
and in the wrinkles and folds of the skin generally. They occur 
chiefly in infancy, and in stout persons with a delicate skin, who per 
spire excessively. Extreme cleanliness, and carefully wiping the parts 
dry after washing, with the subsequent use of a little violet powder or 
finely-powdered starch, or French chalk scraped or grated very fine, 
dusted over the parts once or twice a day, will generally remove them 
and prevent their recurrence. 

Frost-bites should be treated by long-continued and patient friction 
with the hands or a piece of flannel, care being taken to avoid the fire, 
or even a heated apartment, until the healthy circulation of the parts 
be fully restored. Disfigurations left by them may be treated in the 
same way as those from burns, etc. 



CHAPTER XXVm. 
The Hair — the Glory of Woman. 

A^ Unrivalled Ornament — Hair of the Orientals — Premature Decay— Effect of 
Mental Emotions — Physical Structure — Hair-bulbs and Tubes — Chemical Coii» 
stitution — Biography of a Hair — Necessity of General Health — Best Manage* 
ment — Use of Comb and Brush — Curl-papers — Crisping-tongs — Friction — Two 
Methods of Dressing — Objections to Artificial Styles — Cleansing the Scalp 
Natural Arrangement of the Hair — Cutting and Clipping — A Dirty Habit- 
Luxuriant Growth — Curliness and Waviness — Fixing the Hair in Position. 

THE hair is not only invaluable as a protective covering of the 
head, but it gives a finish and imparts unequalled grace to the 
features which it surrounds. Sculptors and painters have 
bestowed on its representation their highest skill and care, and its 
description and praises have been sung in the sweetest lays by the 
poets of all ages. Whether in flowing ringlets, chaste and simple 
bands, or graceful braids artistically disposed, it is equally charming, 
and clotb<?s with fascination even the simplest forms of beauty : 

'* O wondrous, wondrous, is her hair ! 
A braided wreath of golden brown, 
Thct drops on neck and temples bare. " 

If there be one point more than another in which the tastes of 
mankind appear to agree, it is that rich, luxuriant, flowing hair is not 
merely beautiful in itself, but an important — nay, an essential auxiliary 
to the highest development of the personal charms. Among all the . 
refined nations of antiquity, as in all time since, the care, arrangement 
and decoration of the hair formed a prominent and generally the lead- 
ing portion of their toilet. 

The ancient Egyptians and Assyrians, and other Eastern nations, 
bestowed on it the most elaborate attention. The ancient Jews, iike 
their modern descendants, were proverbial for the luxuriance and rich- 
ness of their hair, and the care which they devoted to it. Glossy, 
lowing, black hair is represented to have been the *^ glory " of the 

393 



394 THE HAIR, 

ancient Jewess, and in her person to have exhibited charms of the 
most imposing character ; whilst the chasteness of its arrangement was 
only equalled by its almost magic beauty. Nor was this luxuriance, 
and this attention to the hair, confined to the gentler sex ; for among 
the pagan Orientals the hair and the beard of the males were not less 
sedulously attended to. Among the males of Judah and Israel, long 
flowing ringlets appear to have been regarded as highly desirable and 
attractive. 

The reputed beauty and the prodigious length and weight of the 
hair of Absalom, the son of David, as recorded in the sacred text, 
would be sufficient to startle the most enthusiastic modern dandy that 
cultivates the crinal ornament of his person. Solomon the wise, 
another son of David, conceived the beauty of the hair sufficiently 
dignified to express figuratively the graces of the church. 

Hair of French Royalty. 

Long, luxuriant hair was as much esteemed by many of the ancient 
European nations as by the Asiatics, although their attentions to it 
were of a ruder and less elaborate character. This was particularly 
tile case with the northern nations, and with some of those of western 
Europe. The cultivation and regard of the hair was a passion in Gaul, 
and cutting and cropping it were employed as punishments. 

The ancient royal family of France, as a particular mark of distinc- 
tion and privilege of the king and the princes of the blood, had to wear 
'* long hair artfully dressed and curled." The clerical tonsure is said 
to be of apostolic institution. At a later date Pope Anicetus forbade 
the clergy to wear long hair. 

In modern times, the high estimation in which a beautiful head of 
hair is held, is probably as great as at any former period of the world's 
history. It is still regarded as an important ingredient in manly 
beauty, and as one of the very essentials of feminine loveliness and 
fascination. All persons are proud of it — all covet it — all admire it. 
Indeed, it may be truly said, thiit all persons, except the most indolent, 
vulgar, and degraded, arc more or less sedulous in their endeavors, in 



THE HAIR. 395 

private, to improve their hair, and by tasteful arrangement to set it off 
to the best advantage. 

The interest taken in the hair at the present day is shown by the 
enormous sums which are annually spent in western Europe, and in 
America, in articles of the toilet connected with it, and in hair- 
cosmetics. The hair appears to be the all-absorbing subject of the 
toilet in the minds of the fastidious Englishman and the polished 
Frenchman ; so much so, indeed, as to often lead to negligence in the 
performance of many of its other important details — a sufficient proof 
of the personal interest with which the hair is regarded. 

"Standing on End." 

In France the hair, even more than in England and America, is an 
ispecial object of attention. From the number of persons there con- 
nected with the toilet and cosmetic arts and dress, and particularly 
with the hair, an unsophisticated stranger might almost be led to 
suppose it to be a nation of barbers, friseurs, perfumers, tailors, 
milliners, etc. 

The hair, though devoid of sensibility, and unsusceptible of expres- 
sion under the influence of the will and the ordinary mental feelings, 
like the mobile portions of the face, and though it may be popularly 
regarded rather in the light of a parasitic growth than as an essential 
portion of the body, it is capable of being affected by the stronger 
emotions and passions, and even of aiding their expression in the 
features. Who is there that, at some period or other of his life, if 
only in childhood, in a moment of sudden terror or horror, has not 
experienced the sensation popularly described as ** the hair standing 
on end ? " or who is there that, at some time or other, has not 
witnessed the partial erection of the hair in children or females under 
like violent emotions, or seen the representation of it in sculptures or 
paintings? 

Those passions, so aptly styled by Gray '' the vultures of the mind," 
frequently affect, with wonderful rapidity, the health of both the body 
and the mind, which wreck the hair soon sympathizes with and shares. 



396 THE HAIR. 

Instances are recorded in which violent grief, in a few weeks, has 
blanched the hair and anticipated the effects of age ; and others, in 
which intense terror or horror has effected the same with even greater 
celerity, the change having occurred in a few days, or even in a few 
hours. Byron alludes to these facts in his " Prisoner of Chillon :" 

My hair is gray, but not with years, 

Nor came it white 

In a single night, 
As men's have done from sudden fear*. 

The hair, too, often indirectly becomes, in othei ways, a rude expo= 

nent of perturbations of the mind. In moments of intense thought 

hesitation, and perplexity, where does the hand unconsciously wander 

to, and the busy fingers find occupation ? And in grief — woman's 

grief — what is so common ? — 

"A wreck of fair and glossy curls, and trailing 
Raggedly down. Hast thou not seen hair so? 
Thou mayst behold it in a woman wailing 
In grief unutterable. In heavy woe 
The fingers rush amid the banded hair. 
Slipping the smooth and comely ringlets there, 
As if confusion were affliction's order. 
Read thou how Constance let her tresses fall 
Around her throbbing temples, like a border, 
At her poor Arthur's fate. And women all 
Are Constances in this, that, with strong passion, 
They crush the beauty which of old they cherished ; 
For sorrow hath no sympathy with fashion. 
And outward grace decays when inward joy hath perished.'* 

The formation and physical structure of the hair is very compli- 
cated and beautiful. On careful and minute inspection, it is seen to 
consist of elongated horny filaments, or tubes, which derive their 
elasticity and flexibility from their attenuated form. It is secreted 
and formed by certain minute conical-shaped glands, called the " hair- 
bulbs," and certain vessels called the " hair-capsules," both of which 
are lodged in the network of the cutis or true-skia The rudimentary 
hairs are elaborated in the first in a semi-fluid state, and assume the 
form of a fluted pith, which is then invested by the capsules with a 



THE HAIR. 397 

semi-transparent homy sheath, giving a tubular and twofold structure 
to the hair. 

As these rudimentary hairs develop themselves and harden, they 
push themselves gradually through certain pores or passages in the 
skin, called the "hair-tubes," or "hair-canals," and appear at the 
surface in the form of true hair, of which the texture becomes harder 
the further it extends from the skin. These tubes are lined with a 
thin layer of cuticle, which adheres to the base of the newly-formed 
hair next the bulb, forming the white sheath or ring observed round 
the base of a forcibly-plucked hair, which is popularly, but incorrectly, 
regarded as its root. 

Why Hair is Straight or Curly. 

They are also placed obhquely, and not perpendicularly, in the 
skin, by which the " set " or direction of the hairs on the surface of 
the head is determined. It is the form which these canals assume 
in their course outwards that gives some of its external characters to 
the hair. In the white races these tubes are generally straight, or 
only slightly curvilinear ; the exceptions being in those who have 
wavy or curly hair, in whom these canals are more or less serpentine 
or spiral. In the African races they are rather intricate and con- 
torted ; and hence the crisp, grisly nature of the hair of the Negro. 

It may be further remarked, that the sheath or tube that forms the 
visible portion of the hair is not cylindrical, as it appears to the 
unaided eye. Under a magnifier of small power it is seen to be 
jagged like the teeth of a saw, owing to it being formed, as it were, 
of a succession of inverted cones, so arranged as to fit into and 
receive each other, the serrations inclining inward from the root 
upward. 

The hairs being thus formed and protruded through the skin, con- 
tinue to grow until they acquire the length peculiar to the species of 
the individual, by incessant additions to their lower extremity within 
the skin ; and they are continually repaired and kept in a state of 
vitality by the fluids that pervade the pith or centre portion. Nor is 



398 THE HAIR. 

this all. Nature has provided suitable glands around the base or the 
hairs to secrete oily matter, for the purpose of keeping the skin soft 
and easily permeable, and the hair itself soft, flexible, and glossy. In 
a state of perfect health this supply never fails, and is always sufficient 
for the purposes for which it is intended. 

The chemical constitution of the hair was first made known by Mr. 
Hatchett, who showed it to consist chiefly of indurated albumen 
together with a little gelatine, or matter that yields it. Soft and ver> 
flexible hair is said to contain the most gelatine. Subsequently, 
Vauquelin discovered that hair contains two different kinds of oily 
matter — the one white and bland, common to all hair; the other, 
colored, and on which, in part, the particular color of the haii depends. 

He also found small and variable quantities of mineral substances 
\n hair. In light-colored hair he found magnesia; and in black and 
dark hair, iron and sulphur. It is the presence of these last that 
mainly gives to dark hair its color. Fur, wool, bristles, and spines, 
in their chemical nature, structure, and mode of formation, resemble 
hair ; as also, to a very great extent, do the feathers of birds. 

Affected by Age. 

The biography or life-history of a hair resembles that of the micro- 
cosm of which it forms a part. Human hair is perennial ; and unless 
its connection with the skin be severed by violence, the effects of 
disease, or the premature decay of the hair-bulbs from any of the 
numerous causes liable to affect them, it preserves much of its vigor 
and integrity to a late period of life. In most animals the hair is 
deciduous, and is cast annually ; but not in man. 

In infancy and early childhood the hair is generally pale, soft, thin, 
and very flexible. As the age increases, it gradually becomes more 
abundant, darker, coarser, and stiffer. In healthy youth and early 
maturity it reaches its prime, or state of greatest luxuriance and 
beauty ; and thus it continues for some years, in a nearly stationary 
conditio;!. Then it usually, gradually, very gradually, becomes thinner 
gnd weaker, and slowly loses its glossiness and some of its color. 



THE HAIR. 399 

Next, owing to the decreasing vigor of the circulation of the scalp, 
and its attenuation consequent on the progress of life, the hair com- 
mences falling off from the crown of the head, and soon afterward 
from the partings, which widen and become more conspicuous. The 
comb and brush may now be perceived to remove a greater number 
of weak hairs than heretofore, the place of which is not filled up by 
fresh ones, as formerly. This state may continue for some years, oi 
even until a late period of life, the hair merely gradually getting 
weaker and sparser, and the crown more extensively bald; but 
usually more marked changes occur. 

Gray Hair and Baldness. 

About, or soon after the middle age, and sometimes even before it, 
gray hairs begin to appear. At first they are few in number, and far 
apart ; but time soon multiplies them, and in a few years they become 
sufficiently numerous to affect the general hue of the hair. It may 
be here remarked, that when the hair rapidly gets gray before the 
middle age, the health of the party being at the same time good, it 
often does not otherwise deteriorate, but continues strong and vigor- 
ous for many years, and not infrequently until a late period of life. 

The crown of the head, by this time, is probably wholly denuded 
of hair, and that on the other parts, where it still remains, is rapidly 
growing thinner and weaker, until little is left, and this only on the 
lower portion of the sides and back of the head. By the process of 
decay this is, ere long, blanched to a silvery white, and almost general 
baldness ensues — the usual accompaniment of old age. 

The hair, however, does not always maintain its integrity, and 
slowly sink into a state of decay, by gradual changes in the manner 
just mentioned. On the contrary, a number of influences, avoidable 
and unavoidable, are constantly at work to deteriorate the one, and 
to hasten the others. 

Among these may be mentioned uncleanliness, mismanagement, 
the use of improper cosmetics, impaired health, disease, anxiety, 
watchfulness, irregular habits, intemperance, excessive indulgence of 



400 THE HAIR. 

the passions, exposure to the weather, and to the vicissitudes and 
extremes of cHmate, want of fresh air and exercise, keeping the head 
unhealthily hot and close, excessive or suppressed respiration, undue 
pressure, accidents, and the like, from one or more of which the cases 
of premature grayness and baldness, now so common, in general, 
arise. Indeed, it may be observed, that whatever proves injurious to 
the skin also proves injurious to the hair-bulbs imbedded in it, and 
consequently to the hair itself. 

It may be laid down as a law, to which there are no exceptions, 
that the vigor, luxuriance, and beauty of the hair uniformly corre- 
spond to the state of health of the scalp from which it grows. Whilst 
\he scalp is soft and thick, and the blood circulates with healthy vigor 
trough its vessels, as is the case in youth and the early years of 
maturity, the hair-glands and capsules have ample space to exist and to 
work in, and ample materials in the shape of healthy arterial blood, out 
of which to elaborate their secretions. It is during this state that the 
hair reaches its highest degree of luxuriance and beauty ; and it main- 
tains these as long as the health and vigor of the scalp continue. 

Management of the Hair. 

As soon as the vigor of the circulation in the scalp begins to 
decline, whether from age, disease, or other causes, it suffers gradual 
attenuation. The functions of the air-bulbs are thus more or less 
impeded, and as the attenuation proceeds, they are ultimately arrested 
altogether. The former produces weak, thin hair ; the last, baldness. 
The smoothness, thinness, and partial transparency of the bald scalp 
of the aged has probably been observed by the reader. 

The management of the hair, under the ordinary conditions of life 
and health, like that of the skin, is extremely simple, and should be 
either based on principles derived from the physiological facts already 
presented to the reader, or of a nature that will not interfere with the 
healthy functions of the hair-producing organs. 

The chief of these, and, indeed, the essential ones, involve the 
ieccssity of keeping both the hair and the skin of the head perfectly 



THE HAIR. 401 

clean, and the former arranged in the direction in which it naturally 
lies, subject only to such little deviations as may be necessary to adapt 
it to the position in which it is usually worn ; and this arrangement 
and position should be constantly followed on each occasion of 
dressing it. 

To proceed to details, let us commence the subject with the duties 
of the toilet on rising in the morning. The personal ablutions hiving 
been performed, the hair will probably next engage the attention. If 
the immediate object, before leaving our chamber, or appearing at the 
jreakfast-table, be merely to restore it from the disorder, into which 
it has got during the night — its more careful treatment and arrange- 
ment being deferred to a later period of the day — a slight use of the 
tomb and brush will probably be found sufficient for the purpose. 

Vigorous Use of the Brush. 

If, however, this early toilet be the principal one, or the only com- 
plete one of the day — as it usually is with the majority of mankind — 
something more will be necessary. The question then aases. *' How 
should we proceed to effect the object in view in the most satisfactory 
manner?" This maybe answered in the following way: one or 
other of the two methods mentioned being adopted, each of which 
has advantages peculiar to itself, and, in appropriate cases and circum- 
stances, is thus preferable to the other. 

The hair, after a preliminary application of the coarser end of the 
dressing-comb, should be gently and assiduously brushed straight, or 
downwards in all directions round the head, until it be rendered quite 
smooth and apparently free from scurf, the brush being used in the 
manner hereafter explained. The motion of the hand may now be 
gradually changed until it assumes a direction upward and across the 
head, or one contrary to that in which the brush was previously used. 
This direction of the brush should be continued for a short time. It 
has the advantage of not exerting any strain on the hair of the crown 
and of the partings, and of removing all the scurf that has escaped 
the first brushing. 



402 THE HAIR. 

A similar gradual change in the motion of the hand to the direction 
in which the brush was first used, will restore the hair to its former 
position, and again smoothly and equally distribute it around the head 
from the crown downwards. Now is the time to apply oil or pomade, 
if an}' be used ; but this will be unnecessary i'' the scalp be thoroughly 
healthy and the hair luxuriant, as in this Cjrse the natural supply of 
oily matter, secreted by the oil-glands at its base, will be amply suffix 
cient to keep it soft and glossy. 

Pomade and Curling-tongs. 

Presuming this supply to be deficient, or that, for other reasons, the 
party desires to use some oil or grease, he had better proceed as 
follows : having placed a little of the pomade or oil in the palm of 
the left hand, he should spread it equally over the inner surface of 
the two hands by rubbing them together. The hands being now 
applied to the hair, the oily matter on them may be equally diffused 
over its surface by wiping them on it, and by gentle friction ; after 
which its further equal distribution may be effected by the hair-brush. 
Two or three, or, at the most, four drops of oil, or a corresponding 
quantity of pomatum, according to the abundance of the hair, is 
amply sufficient for the purpose, when either of these are used daily ; 
and this quantity cannot be exceeded without inconvenience in regard 
to cleanliness, and without proving more or less injurious to the 
healthy scalp. 

If curling-tongs or crisping-irons (objectionable things, by the bye) 
be used by the party, this will be the proper time for doing so. The 
iiair may now be parted and adjusted with the comb (the coarser end 
being. first used), then again well brushed to give it smoothness and 
set, and lastly receive any final adjustment to bring it into the usual 
position and style adopted by the wearer. In the case of long hair 
in curls or ringlets, or in any other state which it may be undesirable 
to displace or disarrange by the inverted motion of the brush, the 
portion of the hair so circumstanced may be firmly grasped in the left 
hand, and protected by it, whilst the brush is applied with the right. 



THE HAIR. 403 

by which its inversion and disarrangement will be prevented. If curl- 
papers or hair-crimpers be employed, it will, perhaps, be betti^r to 
give the hair a thorough brushing in the way described before using 
them. Natural curliness or waviness of the hair is not affected by 
brushing, but rather inc^^eased by it. Nor does washing or wetting 
the hair destroy it. It h only necesssary to subsequently place the 
locks loosely in a favorable position, with the fingers or comb, for 
them to resume either form immediately. 

Artificial Styles. 

The oftener the comb and brush are subsequently used in the day, 
the better it will be for the luxuriance, smoothness, and set of the 
hair. This mode of treating the hair is the one that should be pre- 
ferred when it is desired that it should present an easy, flowing 
appearance, and be gracefully affected by the motions of the head 
and body. 

The other method referred to is equally simple, and of very general 
application, and it is particularly adapted to the use of ladies and 
others who wear their hair in artificial styles, and in positions which it 
cannot easily be made to assume and retain by the common mode of 
dressing it. 

Let us start from the point in the former description. The hair-^ 
brush having been freed from loose hair with the comb, and from 
scurf, by passing it smartly two or three times across the side of the 
extended hand — or, what is better, a fresh clean brush, kept for the 
purpose, being taken — it should be slightly dipped into water, or 
invo rosemary- water or rosemary- tea, or any other simple liquid, 
and, the excess of water having been shaken out of it, applied to 
the hair, which should be brushed with it, until the latter is slightly 
moistened all over. In this state the hair should be parted and 
adjusted with the comb in the usual position or style of dressing it. 
A small piece of soft flannel that has been dipped in water or any 
other simple liquid, and then squeezed out, or the moistened brush, 
if now passed over its surface, will impart further smoothness and 



404 THE HAIR. 

gloss to it, if it be thought desirable ; after which it may be finally 
re-adjusted with the comb if necessary. In a few minutes it will 
become dry. 

The hair may be thus dressed in any style but curls or ringlets, 
and put into any position, however artificial, and which it will retain 
during the day as perfectly as if it were fixed with bandoline, unless 
it be disturbed or ruffled by actual violence. Should this happen, the 
moistened flannel or brush will again restore it. Or the hair may be 
treated by the previous method, at will, provided its set and adjust- 
ment be not interfered with. The latter should only be done when it 
is a^ain washed or moistened. 

Injurious Methods ot Dressing. 

Such are the outlines of two modes of dressing the hair which 
recommend themselves, not merely on account of their simplicity and 
effectiveness, but also from their being compatible with the healthy 
functions of the scalp, and, indeed, promotive of them. Their minor 
details may be varied to suit individual tastes and cases. The elabo- 
rate and highly artificial styles of dressing and adjusting ladies' hair, 
often in the most unnatural positions, with pins, combs, pads, etc. — 
all more or less injurious — do not fall within the range of the present 
work. Their adoption depends on personal taste, and must be left to 
the skill and experience of the hair-dresser. 

Besides this daily attention to the hair, something else is necessary 
to ensure its cleanliness and beauty, and the perfect health of the skin 
of the head from which it springs. For this purpose the head should 
be occasionally well washed with soap and water, an abundance oi 
water being used, and great care being subsequently taken to thorv 
oughly rinse out the whole of the soap with the same water in which 
the head has been washed. The water may be either tepid or cold, 
according to the feelings or habit of the person ; and if the head or 
hair be very scurfy or dirty, or hard water be used, a few grains of 
soda (not potash or pearlash) may be advantageously added to the 
water. This will increase its detersive qualities. 



THE HAIR. 405 

After the hair has been washed, which should be done quickly, 
though thoroughly, it should be freed as much as possible from the 
water by pressure with the hands, and then wiped with a soft thick 
towel, which should be done with care, to avoid entangling it. Aftef 
laying it straight, first with the coarse end of the dressing-comb and 
then with the finer portion, it may be finally dressed and adjusted by 
either of the methods previously noticed. 

In ordinary cases this act of cleanliness should be performed once 
in every week ; but if the head be much exposed to dust and dirt, or 
is very scurfy, or the party perspires very freely, it should be per* 
formed semi-weekly, or even oftener. 

Thorough Washing of the Scalp. 

The extreme length of ladies' hair will sometimes render the pro- 
cess of washing it very troublesome and inconvenient ; in such cases 
the patient and assiduous use of a clean, good hair-brush, followed 
by washing the partings and the crown of the head with soap anc^ 
water, may be substituted. 

The occasional washing of the head is absolutely necessary to pre 
serve the health of the scalp, and the luxuriance and beauty of tlie 
hair, when much oil, pomatum, or other greasy substance is used ilk 
dressing it. 

Something may now be said on the adjustment or arrangement oi 
the hair adopted in dressing it. It has been already mentioned that 
this should be, as far as possible, in conformity with the natural set of 
the hair, and that any marked deviations from it are injurious. In 
the arrangement of the hairs on the surface of the body, it might be 
inferred that little existed to excite the attention ; but this is not the 
fact, if we are to judge by the careful investigations to which the sub- 
ject has given rise. 

From these we learn that the set of the hair, from the root to the 
point, is governed by a law as precise as that which regulates any of 
the other secondary vital functions. Thus, on the head, the hair 

radiates from a single point — th^ Qrown-^tQ every part of the girQUOi' 



406 THE HAIR. 

ferencc, making a gentle sweep behind, towards the left, and in front, 
to the right. The direction of this sweep is naturally indicated on the 
heads of children, and is that in which the hair is turned. 

The same occurs on the face, and on other parts of the body. It 
is evident, therefore, that in making our toilet this natural arrange- 
ment of the hair should be interfered with as little as possible. Comb- 
ing it, banding it, or braiding it, in an opposite direction to that which 
it naturally assumes, cannot prove otherwise than prejudicial to its 
healthy growth and beauty, and if long persevered in, particularly in 
conjunction with any strain on the roots, leads to its premature rik) 
often rapid decay, thereby increasing the k)ok of age. 

Artistic Skill in Cutting. 

The cutting of the hair is another point connected with its manage- 
ment which is generally very little understood ; yet there is not merely 
artistic skill to do this becomingly and beneficially, but also the appli- 
\:ation of principles founded on a knowledge of the growth and struc- 
fc^ure of the hair. As a rule, hair-cutters and hair-dressers are ignorant 
of these principles, and conduct their operations in a very careless way, 
immediate effect in reference to the personal appearance being the only 
object which they aim at. 

Thus, according to the common practice, the strong luxuriant hairs 
of the lower portions of the head get unduly shortened, whilst the 
weaker, and probably the decaying hairs of the crown and around the 
partings, are left of extreme length, and often not cropped at all 
Now, if there be anything serviceable in strengthening weak an 
decaying hairs, it is frequent cutting, and being kept moderately 
short. But such hairs grow feebly, and are of inferior length to 
their vigorous neighbors, which thus, in general, overtop and conceal 
hem, and shield them from the scissors of the hair-cutter, who, 
indeed, neither thinks of them, nor takes the trouble of looking 
for them. 

But it is on attention to these weak and impoverished hairs, that 
the whole art of beneficial hair-cutting depends. To do this, some 



THE HAIR. 40T 

trouble, and more time and skill, are required than are usually devoted 
to the operation ; and for which, of course, those who benefit by 
them must expect to pay. 

Besides the mismanagement or improper treatment of the hair, by 
arranging it in unnatural positions, subjecting it to strains, and the 
head to pressure, and the like, already referred to, two or three other 
objectionable practices may be mentioned. Among these the prin- 
cipal, and the most general, is that of deluging the hair with oily oi^ 
greasy substances. This is not only unnatural and dirty, but envinces 
an amount of either bad taste and vulgarity, or of laziness and sloven- 
liness in the duties of the toilet, which is actually discreditable. 

The Head Turned into a Dust-trap. 

Look at the hair of any person who indulges in this dirty habit { 
What feelings does the sight occasion ? Certainly none of an agree- 
able kind, or that are complimentary to the party gazed on. Look at 
his or her hat or bonnet, the collar of his coat, his nightcap, the 
pillow on which he rests his head, or anything else that his head 
touches. Do they not strike us with disgust? It has been truly 
said that " heads of such persons form excellent dust-traps." 

Luxuriant hair growing on a healthy scalp needs no such extrinsic 
additions to give it gloss and set ; thorough cleanliness, and the fre- 
quent and judicious use of the comb and hair-brush, are all that is 
necessary for the purpose ; and even when the hair is ill supplied with 
the natural oity secretion at its base — a defect that generally arises 
from the long-continued use of oil or grease — a small, very small 
quantity of either of these articles will be found amply sufficient, 
provided it be properly diffused over and through the hair with the 
brush. 

To improve the growth and luxuriance of the hair, when languid or 
defective, the only natural and perfectly safe method that can bf 
adopted is to promote the healthy action of the skin of the scalp by 
increasing the vigor of the circulation of the blood through its minute 
vessels. For this purpose nothing is so simple and effective as gently 



408 THE HAIR. 

excitation of the skin by frequent continued friction with the hair- 
brush, which has the convenience of ease of appHcation and inexpen- 
siveness. 

The same object may be further promoted by the application of any 
simple cosmetic, wash, or other preparation, that will gently excite 
and stimulate the skin, or exercise a tonic action on it, without clog- 
ging its pores. Strong rosemary-water or rosemary-tea, and a weak 
solution of the essential oil of either rosemary or garden-thyme, are 
popular articles of this kind. They may be rendered more stimu- 
lating by the addition of a little ammonia, or a little spirit, or both of 
them. The skin of the head should be moistened with them on each 
occasion of dressing the hair, and their diffusion and action promoted 
by the use of a clean hair-brush. Aromatized water, to which a very 
little tincture or vinegar of cantharides (preferably the former) has 
been added, may also be used in the same way, and is in high repute 
for the purpose. 

Good Applications. 

When the skin is pale, lax, and wrinkled, astringent washes may be 
used. Strong black tea is a convenient and excellent application of 
this kind. When the skin and hair are dry, and the latter also stiff 
and untractable, a little glycerine is an appropriate addition to each 
of the preceding washes or lotions. The occasional use of a little 
bland oil strongly scented with oil of rosemary or of origanum, or 
with both of them, or with oil of mace, or very slightly tinctured with 
cantharides, is also generally very serviceable when there is poorness 
and dryness of the hair. 

When the hair is unnaturally greasy and lax, a defect that seldom 
occurs, the use of the astringent washes just referred to, or of a little 
simple oil slightly scented with the essential oil of bitter almonds, will 
tend to remove or to lessen it. 

All the articles named above promote the glossiness and waviness 
of the hair, and arc also among the simplest, safest, and best applica- 
tions that can be employed when the hair is weak and begins to fall off 



THE HAIR. 



409 



To impart some degree of curliness or waviness to the hair when 
it is naturally straight, and to render it more retentive of the curl 
imparted to it by papers, or by other modes of dressing it, various 
methods are often adopted, and different cosmetics employed. The 
first object appears to be promoted by keeping the hair, for a time, in 
a state intermediate between perfect dryness and humidity, from which 
different parts of its structure being unequally affected, in this respect 
will acquire different degrees of relaxation and rigidity, and thus have 
a tendency to assume a wavy or slightly curly form, provided the 
hair be left loose enough to allow it. 

Old-fashioned Soap and Water. 

For this purpose nothing is better than washing the hair with soap 
and water to which a few grains of salt of tartar (carbonate of potash) 
have been added ; or it may be slightly moistened with any of the 
hair- washes just mentioned, in each half-pint of which a few grains 
(say lo to 12) of the carbonate, or a teaspoonful of glycerine, has been 
dissolved. The moistened hair, after the application of the brush, 
should be finally loosely adjusted, as desired, with the dressing-comb. 
The effect occurs as the hair dries. When oils are preferred to hair- 
washes, those strongly scented with oil of rosemary, to which a few 
drops of oil of thyme or origanum may be added, appear to be the 
most useful. 

A crisped, or a kind of wavy corrugated appearance, of some per- 
manency, is sometimes given to living human hair by a modification 
of the process appHed by the pelt-mongers and felt-manufacturers to 
certain furs, and called '* secretage " by the French. The hair is 
moistened for rather more than one-half its length with the secretage 
liquid, care being taken that neither the liquid, nor the hair, until it 
has been subsequently washed, touches the skin. The operation is 
conducted before a fire, or in a current of warm air, so that the hair 
may dry as quickly as possible. The moistened hair is loosely 
adjusted into the desired positions, or into one favorable for its con- 
traction, or, when partly dry, it is ''put up" in greased curl-papers. 



410 THE HAIR. 

In a few hours, or sooner, the hair is washed with tepid water 
(without soap), dried, and slightly oiled. On being now gently- 
combed and brushed, it generally shrinks up into small crisped or 
wavy locks ; and it will generally retain this property for two or three 
weeks, or even much longer. This process is highly objectionable, 
as, owing to the corrosive nature of the acid-liquid employed in it, it 
cannot be otherwise than injurious to the hair, and, as a consequence, 
must hasten its decay. It should, therefore, be avoided by every one ; 
and it is only noticed here, that its true character may be known. 

To cause the hair to retain the position given to it in dressing it, 
various methods and cosmetics are commonly employed. When the 
arrangement is a natural one, and the hair healthy and tractable, the 
free use of the hair-brush will usually be sufficient for the purpose. 
When this is insufficient, the application of a few drops of oil, or, 
better still, moistening the hair with a little simple water, will effect 
the object satisfactorily. 




CHAPTER XXIX. 
Restoration of the Hair. 

Early Decay—Cold Water and Friction — Stimulating Applications — ^Restoring tha 
Health cf the Scalp— Baldness— The Hair Affected by Old Age— Other Cause? 
— ^Thick Hats — Frequent, Close Cutting— Spanish Flies or Cantharides — Oils 
and Pomades — Electricity — Diet and Regular Habits — Tonics — Gray Hairs, 
and How to Treat Them — Morbid Dryness of the Hair — Use of Glycerine- 
Matting and Felting — Excessive Scurfiness — Rosemary and Thyme — Caution 
Against Quack Remedies — How Superfluous Hairs are Destroyed — Cleansing 
the Partings — Borax and Ammonia. 

THE hair is subject to various deviations from the healthy standard, 
all of which, as already hinted, depend immediately on the state 
of the scalp from which it springs, and indirectly on various 
pauses, of which the principal have been enumerated. Among them 
\he following may claim a special notice : 

The gradual impoverishment and decay of the hair=— shown by its 
becoming finer and thinner, with greater or less loss of its brightness 
and color, and a larger quantity than usual being remxved on each 
application of the comb and brush— whether premature or the result 
of advancing life, is most likely to be arrested, or retarded, by atten- 
tion to the general health and habits, and careful avoidance of any 
article of head-dress or other matter which is known to be prejudicial 
to the hair. 

The special treatment may consist in daily, or as frequently as 
possible, washing the head in cold water, gentle continued friction 
with the hair-brush, and the use of stimulating applications of a 
similar kind to those already noticed, but of rather greater strength, 
so as to produce a slight but sensible excitation of the skin of the 
scalp. Habitually disordered stomach, bowels, or nerves, and par- 
ticularly biliousness and dyspepsia, frequently affect the hair in this 
w*ay, and should be met by medical treatment, of which antacids, and 
^>mcs, as quinine and iron, should generally form a part. 

411 



412 RESTORATION OF THE HAIR. 

Baldness, or destitution or loss of the hair, more especially of thai^ 
of the crown and fore-part of the head, whether actual or impending, 
may next be noticed. Gray hair and baldness d'^pending on old age 
are natural consequences of man's infirmity, and must be regarded as 
evidence of failing vigor, rather than in the light of a disease. Pre* 
mature loss of hair may be produced by various causes, some of which 
have been already noticed. It is common after severe fevers, and 
after erysipelas and other serious inflammatory affections of the scalp ; 
and it is frequently caused by external pressure, friction, or violence, 
want of the necessary exposure of the head to the air, and by such 
other local actions and conditions which, when long continued, 
interrupt the normal functions of the skin. 

Debility and Loss of Hair, 

Persons with a consumptive, scorbutic, scrofulous, or syphilitic taint, 
or of a general bad habit of body, are apt to lose their hair early. In 
these cases the loss probably arises from debility or paralysis of the 
vessels of the skin, and the consequent insufficient action and nutritioi? 
of the hair-bulbs. When it occurs in persons of or under the middle 
age, and apparently enjoying good health, it may be often traced to 
the pernicious practice of constantly wearing a hard non-ventilating 
hat, or to disordered stomach or liver, habitual smoking or har<^ 
drinking, irregular habits, late hours, or the like. Excessive anxiety 
or grief, and intense study and thoughtfulness, also tend to promote 
the early decay and loss of the hair. 

The natural baldness of the aged, and frequently the premature 
baldness of earlier years, particularly in the studious and gricf-wonij ,' 
arises from the reduced energy of the circulation in the vessels of the 
3calp, and its consequent gradual attenuation, until it becomes too 
thin to afford sufficient space for the performance of the functions of 
the hair-bulbs and their associated organs, and too scantily supplied 
with blood for their due nutrition and support. In such cases it will 
be found that, owing to this attenuation, the scalp covers a larger 
portion gf the skull than it previously did when vigorous j and ths^t 



RESTORATION OF THE HAIR. 413 

its sides have somewhat receded from the top of the head, so that the 
roots of the remaining hairs descend lower on the forehead, temples, 
and the sides and back of the neck, than formerly. 

This may be perceived by applying the open hand to the part, and 
then gently closing the fingers, when the scalp will be drawn into its 
original position, and will then appear loose and wrinkled over the 
upper portion of the head thus operated on ; and this in a manner 
very different to what occurs when the top of the head is covered, or 
well covered, wath hair. 

Since the introduction of waterproof clothing and thick, heavy hats, 
and the very general use of tobacco by the juvenile and scarcely 
'mature portion of our population, early baldness has become so com- 
mon that it now ceases to attract notice. These articles act as preju- 
diciously on the hair as white bread and alum do on the teeth. 

Approach of Baldness. 

When the hair suffers a marked deterioration in quality, and ceases 
W grow, or grows languidly, and falls off in large quantities without 
being replaced by new growths, particularly if, at the same time, the 
usual healthy formation of scurf ceases, and the scalp looks pale, and 
exhibits a perceptible loss or diminution of its natural warmth, sensi- 
bility, softness, and plumpness, or, in other words, shows the usual 
signs of gradual attenuation, the approach of baldness may be sus- 
pected. It is now that remedial treatment has the best chance of 
success, and, if promptly and skilfully adopted, will generally arrest 
or greatly retard the progress of decay. 

The treatment should be of the nature last above mentioned, but 
everything must be carried further, and every preparation employed, 
to be serviceable, should be considerably stronger than in the previous 
case. The frictions with the hair-brush should be more frequent and 
longer continued, and the daily ablutions in cold water more rigor- 
ously performed, or, what is better, replaced by a cold shower-bath 
taken on rising in the morning. When greasy preparations are used, 
it is advisable to wash the head with soap and water once a day. 



414 RESTORATION OF 'I'HE HAIR. 

During this treatment the hair should be kept rather short by 
frequent cutting ; and if no manifest improvement occurs in the course 
of three or four weeks, the head, or at least the upper portion of it, 
may be shaved once or twice a week, and a wig, or a scalp, worn for 
a time. The effect of keeping the hair short, or closely cropped or 
shaved, is to stimulate the hair-bulbs, and to cause them to spend on 
the stumps, and on the formation of new hair, the whole of the hair- 
producing and nutritive matter which would otherwise, for the most 
part, be taken up by the length of hair removed. 

Hence the remaining hair generally grows thicker, stiffer and 
stronger, the oftener the razor or the scissors are employed, and new 
growths arise ; and this frequently when all other means of restoring 
the hair fail. Besides this, friction and medicaments can be more con- 
veniently applied to the skin when naked than when covered with 
hair. 

Warmth and Glow from Friction. 

The strength of the external applications for daily use, whether 
wash or lotion, oil or pomade, should be sufficient to produce a 
pleasant glow of warmth, and slight, very slight, redness of the skin 
of the scalp, which should be promoted by gentle friction. Without 
this occurs, and continues with little abatement during the interval 
between their application, they do no good whatever. A proof of 
their favorable action is afforded by the scalp feeling warm to the 
hand when placed in contact with it. 

When there is actual baldness, the same treatment should be 
followed; but if the portion of the skin implicated be extensive, 
friction with the hand, a piece of flannel, or a coarse towel, will be 
preferable to that with the hair-brush. 

The favorite compounds for external use in baldness, and, perhaps, 
the most convenient and best, are such as own their stimulating 
quality to cantharides or Spanish flies, or to their active principle, 
cantharldine. This application of these drugs has received the sanc- 
tion of the highest medical authorities, both in Europe and America, 
including even Dupuytren himself The leading professional hair- 



RESTORATION OF THE HAIR. 41f) 

restorers now rely almost exclusively on cantharides, and all the more 
celebrated advertised nostrums for restoring the hair contain it as 
their active ingredient. 

Oils and pomades very strongly impregnated with the essential oils 
of garden-thyme (origanum) and rosemary, and lotions or liniments 
containing ammonia with a like addition of these essential oils, 
probably come next in the frequency of their use as popular restora- 
tives of the hair in actual and incipient baldness. 

Electricity and Other Remedies. 

Among active remedies for baldness, of less common use, may be 
mentioned mild streaming electricity, warm, stimulating fomentations 
and fumigations, cotton-oil, ioduretted and phosphuretted oils and 
lotions, etc. 

It will be thus seen that the principle generally adopted, by both 
the professional man and the quack, in the treatment of loss of the 
hair and baldness, is essentially that of stimulation or excitation of 
the scalp. The celebrated Rev. John Wesley acted on it in his recom 
mendation to rub the part morning and evening with a raw onion, 
until it becomes red, and then to apply a little honey. This is cer- 
tainly good advice, as independent of the stimulus thus given to the 
skin and the circulation, the surface of the scalp is rendered more 
absorbent, and more sensitive to the action of medicaments. 

As a mechanical aid in furtherance of other treatment, the use of 
a nightcap so contrived as to contract and lift, as it were, the relaxed 
scalp into its former dimensions and position, without injurious pres- 
sure on the head, may also be employed. 

The reader may now again be cautioned against placing any reliance 
en external applications, unless he assists their action by due attention 
to diet, exercise, ventilation, regular habits, and such other matters as 
tend to promote the general health and vigor of the body. He should 
also assist the action of external remedies by the use of appropriate 
internal medicine. A course of tonic medicine, as quinine, or any of 
the milder chalybeates, preferably the first, or a combination of the 



416 RESTORATION OF THE HAIR. 

two, is often most serviceable in restoring the hair, and is compatible 
with any other treatment. A course of hypophosphite of soda is 
generally still more useful. The dose may be 5 to lo grains, twice a 
day, soon after a meal, dissolved in water or milk. We are told that, 
during the operation of this remedy, the h>iir, even of consumptive 
patients, commonly grows a^ain and improves in quality, and the 
beard reappears. 

When Life has Gone Out of the Scalp. 

The baldness of old age, and that arising from the destruction, or 
permanent injury, or disorganization of the hair-bulbs, admits of no 
cure, notwithstanding the daily assurances of advertising impostors to 
^he contrary. This kind of baldness is indicated by the scalp not 
being at all warmed and reddened by gentle, continued friction, or by 
stimulating applications followed by friction. When this is observed, 
the case is hopeless, and it would be absolute folly to attempt to 
restore the hair. 

Gray hairs, when occurring singly, and when few in number, or 
thinly scattered, may be removed with the tweezers, if their presence 
be objectionable ; or they may be lifted from among the surrounding 
hair and moistened with a solution of nitrate of silver of sufficient 
strength to restore them to their former hue. The straggling gray 
hairs that frequently show themselves over the fore-part of the tem- 
ples, and in the beard, are commonly and conveniently so treated. 

Morbid dryness and intractability of the hair commonly arise from 
a defective action of the oil-glands. In some cases, this defective 
action is occasioned by excessive perspiration ; in others, by the pre- 
vious long and profuse use of crude or rancid oily or greasy sub- 
stances ; and, occasionally, by the action of strong soap or alkalies, 
ivhich have been employed in washing the head, and not subsequently 
choroughly removed by rinsing. The inconvenience may generally 
be obviated by the free use of the hair-brush, a stimulating wash con- 
taining a little glycerine, or a few drops of oil strongly scented with 
som^ stimulating aromatic, being also applied daily. 



RESTORATION OF THE HAIR. 417 

Matting or felting of the hair depends on its peculiar serrated 
structure, already explained. It frequently arises with long hair, 
when not daily combed, during sickness. The best mode of restoring 
the hair to order, in these cases, is to well oil it, and then to 
endeavor to free it from its state of combination by the patient use ot 
the coarser end of the dressing-comb, beginning at the ends of the 
hairs. No force should be used, as the scalp is usually particularly 
liable to injury at such a time, and the hairs forcibly removed are fre- 
quently not replaced by fresh ones. 

To avoid this matting or entanglement, ladies, immediately prior to 
their accouchment, frequently have their long hair formed into loose 
soft plaits or braids, to the extent of about one-half of its length. 
These braids may be easily removed and formed again at any time ; 
or the hair may be combed and brushed without disturbing them 

Ammonia and Rosemary Water. 

Scurfiness of the hair, when of an ordinary and trifling character, 
is not a disease, but results from want of cleanliness, and particularly 
from the non-use or insufficient use of the hair-brush. Scurf — " fur- 
fur," "furfura" — is a natural and healthy formation, and, within cer- 
tain limits, is most abundantly produced when the hair grows most 
rapidly. It may be kept from accumulating, but it cannot be pre- 
vented. This will show how futile any attempt must be which shall 
have for its object to prevent the formation of scurf It may be 
removed, and should be removed, every day, wdth the hair-brush ; 
but prevention is impossible, inasmuch as it is opposed to a law of 
. nature. 

Excessive scurfiness is usually symptomatic of an unhealthy state 
of the skin of the scalp, and should be treated accordingly. The 
daily use of any mild, stimulating detergent or astringent wash will 
generally remove, or greatly lessen, the annoyance. For this purpose 
nothing is better than strongly-scented rosemary water to which some 
spirit and a little tincture of cantharides or a few drops of liquor oj 
jur.monia, or, both have been added. It should be applied with a 
27 



418 RESTORATION OF THE HAIR. 

small, soft piece of sponge. Strong black tea is also a good wash for 
excessive scrufiness. If oil be preferred, it should be very strongly 
scented with oil of rosemary, thyme or mace. 

Superfluous hairs may be removed either by the application of the 
tweezers or by depilatories. When the former are used, a few hairs 
only must be pulled out, one at a time, daily, to avoid excessive 
irritation. The latter, according to their mode of action, are distin- 
guished into mechanical depilatories and chemical depilatories. To 
the first belong highly adhesive plasters, which, on their forcible 
removal, bring away the hairs with them. A mixture of equal parts 
of pitch and common resin, spread on leather, is of this class. 

To Remove Superfluous Hairs. 

The chemical depilatories usually consist of, or contain as their 
active ingredients, the caustic earths (lime or baryta) and alkalies, or 
their sulphurets. Their action is upon the hair-bulbs and hair 
capsules, the vitality of which they either wholly or partially dc j;troy 
at the same time that they dissolve off the hairs. Their successful use 
requires some skill and care, as, owing to their high causticity, they 
are liable to seriously affect the skin, and, sometimes, to produce 
inconvenient sores which permanently mark it. 

Fortunately, there is no real occasion for employing such com- 
pounds, and **why they are ever used," is a question which vanity 
and fashion may be left to answer. Fortunately, also, the pain that 
accompanic their unskilful use and excessive action, acts as a sort of 
monitor to lead to their removal from the part before their worst 
effects are produced. The only safe way to use them is to apply 
them to merely a very small space at a time. The addition of starch 
is commonly made to render the paste more adhesive and manageable. 

Almost all the fashionable advertised depilatories contain orpiment 
or yellow sulphuret of arsenic — a highly poisonous and dangerous 
substance — from a false idea that it increases the activity of the com- 
pound. All such nostrums should be avoided. Yet, strange as it 
may appear, orpiment is, and always has been, a favorite article ip^ 



RESTORATION OF THE HAIR. 419 

these compounds. Lime or orpiment, and nearly always both of 
them, have, indeed, formed the leading ingredients in fashionable 
depilatories, both in ancient and modern times. 

To clean the the partings of the hair, when dirty, nothing is better 
than soap and water applied with a small piece of flannel or sponge. 
The cosmetic washes sold for the purpose by the perfumers, under 
various high-sounding names, usually consist of water holding in 
solution a small quantity of salt of tartar, or of carbonate of ammonia, 
variously scented and colored. A little borax, dissolved in rosemary- 
water, forms a good wash of this kind. They should all be lastly 
removed from the partings with clean water and the sponge or towel. 

The hair, or portions of it, particularly that of the face, is sometimes 
temporarily darkened by what may be called "painting" it. This is 
done by smearing a black or colored stick of hard pomatum or 
cosmetic over it until the desired color is given to it, and then 
slightly diffusing the color over the surface with the brush. 

The practice is a dirty and unnatural one, as the color is partially 
removed by everything it touches, and the hair is converted by it into 
a trap to catch the dust. It is only to be tolerated when occasionally 
used by the fastidious to conceal a few straggling gray or faded hairs. 
Its use, like that of false moustaches and whiskers, once so common^ 
is now chiefly confined to fashionable fops, and to the " swells " and 
" gents " of low life. 



CHAPTER XXX. 
Beauty of Face and Features. 

Harmony and Right Proportion — The Forehead — Skin Eruptions- - The ByeS— 
Most Expressive Feature — How to Treat the Eyes — Belladonna—Dimness of 
Age — Remedies for Discoloration — Effects of Dust and Dirt — Eyelashes and 
Eyebrows — The Nose — How to Mould and Beautify the Nose — Human Mouth 
and Lips — Chapped Lips — The Teeth — What Injures the Teeth — Tooth-pow- 
ders and Use of the Brush — Use of Charcoal — The Ears — Wearing Ear-rings — 
Chin and Throat — Neck of Beauty. 

THE beauty of the face depends chiefly on all its several features 
being pleasingly moulded and in ''perfect keeping" with each 
other. Without this proportion between the individual features, 
the most delicate complexion, the brightest eyes, the softest cheeks, 
the finely-moulded mouth, and the ruddiest lips, may fail to charm, 
and, by contrast, may even disfigure where they should adorn. It is 
this excellence of proportion that constitutes one of the chief elements 
of personal beauty. 

The possession of an elevated and prominent forehead is correctly 
regarded as one of the distinguishing features of the human race. Its 
erectness and extent are characteristic of reason and high intellectual 
powers, and its development is exactly proportionate to the intelligence 
of the species and of the individual. 

A lofty, ample forehead is the attribute of the enlightened white 
race ; a receding forehead, that of the Negro. Beyond a certain limit 
reason disappears, and idiocy commences. The absence of a true 
forehead is one of the characteristics of the brute creation. Its excel- 
lence is an important ingredient in personal beauty, and is absolutely 
necessary to the possession of a superior mind. 

The toilet of the forehead is limited chiefly to the arrangement of 

the hair. The possessor of a beautiful forehead is seldom disposed to 

conceal any portion of it, or to modify its apparent form by such 

means. The practice of wearing the hair over portions of the fore- 

420 



BEAUTY OF FACE AND FEATURES. 421 

head naturally bare is prejudicial to the health of the head, and to th« 

vigor of the mind. 

Tne contrary practice of throwing or fixing the hair in unnatural 

positions, backward from the forehead, is equally objectionable, for 

reasons already noticed. The defects of an ill-formed forehead may, 

in general, be rendered less apparent, and often wholly obscured, by 

an appropriate arrangement of the hair about it — a matter in which 

.the taste of the individual, and the example of others, will be the best 

guides. 

Beauty r.nd Expression of the Eyes. 

The eyes, of all the features, stand pre-eminent for their beauty and 
ever-varying powers of expression, and for being the organs of the 
most exalted, delicate and useful of the senses. It is they alone that 
" reveal the i::ternal forms of beauty to the mind, and enable it to 
perceive ,^iem, even at a distance, with the lightning speed of light. 
It is they alone that clothe the whole creation with the magic charms 
of color, and fix on every object the identity of figure." It is the 
eyes alone, or chiefly, that reveal the emotions of the mind to others, 
and that clothe the features with the language of the soul. Melting 
with pity, or glowing with hope, or redolent with love, benevolence, 
desire or emulation, they impart to the countenance those vital fasci- 
nations which are the peculiar attributes of man. 

The beauty and expression of the human eye have furnished themes 
for both poets and prose-writers in all ages. Sculptors and painters 
have bestowed their highest skill and most laborious efforts on its 
delineation, and anatomists and physiologists have investigated and 
described its wonderful structure and functions with a degree of zeal 
and eloquence perhaps greater than that devoted to any other organ. 

Physiognomists tell us that the peculiar form, size and expression 
of the eyes, afford reliable indications of the disposition and mental 
character of the individual ; whilst the phrenologist assumes, among 
other things connected with these organs and the parts adjacent to 
them, that prominent eyes indicate the presence of the organ of lan- 
guage, and that their possessor can always express his thoughts in words. 



1 



422 



BEAUTY OF FACE AND FEATURES. 




MODEL OF FEMALE BEAUTY. 

truly as the tongue does. It 
is the mirror of the soul, the 
proof of intelligence, the ex- 
hibitor of all the emotions 
that hold possession of the 
heart. Eyes have a power 
as great as spoken words. 
If there is joy within, or 
sorrow, or dismay, or any 
great emotion, the eye re- 
\'eals it. 

The management of the 
eyes, in connection with the 
toilet, consists chiefly in 
daily bathing or washing 
them with pure water, and 



A beautiful eye is 
one that is full, clear 
and brilliant, appro- 
priate in color to the 
complexion, and, in 
form, to the features, 
and of which the 
connected parts — the 
eyelids, eyelashes and 
eyebrows, which, with 
it, in a general view 
of the subject, collec- 
tively form the ex- 
ternal eye — are also 
beautiful, and in keep- 
ing with it. The eye 
has a language of its 
own. It speaks as 




FINE TYPE OF WQWANLY GRACE. 



BEAUTY OF FACE AND FEATURES. 423 

the avoidance of friction or pressure, exposure to dust, irritating 
fumes, or vivid light, and fatiguing, straining or overtasking them. In 
washing them, and subsequently wiping them, the utmost delicacy 
should be exercised. 

Strong soap should be particularly avoided, and only a soft napkin 
should be employed to wipe them. The use of a thick, stiff or coarse 
towel, for the last purpose, is very injurious to them, as it tends to 
flatten them, and hastens the arrival of the time when the assistance 
of spectacles becomes necessary. Rubbing the eyes with the fingers 
when drowsy, especially on awaking in the morning, has a like ten- 
dency, and is even more injurious. 

Brilliancy of the Eyes. 

To strengthen the eyes, to reheve them when fatigued or stiff or 
weak, irritable or inflamed, or swollen or congested, and to remove 
chronic ophthalmia, purulent discharges, etc., nothing is equal to fre- 
quently bathing them with water, at first tepid, but afterwards gradu- 
ally lowered in temperature to absolute coldness. 

To increase the beauty and expression of the eyes various means 
rire occasionally had recourse to, nearly all of which are not merely 
Tiighly objectionable but even dangerous. Thus, some fashionable 
ladies and actresses, to enhance the clearness and brilliancy of their 
eyes before appearing in public, are in the habit of exposing them to 
air slightly impregnated with the vapor of prussic acid. This is done 
by placing a single drop of the dilute acid at the bottom of an eye- 
cup or eye-glass, and then holding the cup or glass against the eye 
for a few seconds, with the head in an inclined position. 

It has also been asserted, and we believe correctly, that certain 
ladies of the demi-monde rub a very small quantity of belladonna- 
ointment on the brow over each eye, or moisten the same part with a 
few drops of tincture of belladonna. This produces dilation of the 
pupil, and gives a pecuhar fulness and an expression of languor to the 
eyes, which, by some, are regarded as exceedingly fascinating. 

The use of these active medicinals, in this way, must be manifestly 



424 BEAUTY OF FACE AND FEATURES. 

injurious ; and when frequent, or long continued, or carried to excess, 
must necessarily result in impaired vision, if not in actual blindness. 

How the Eyes are Injured. 

The eyes, like the other organs, suffer changes and functional decay 
by age, improper treatment and excessive use. They are also injured 
by many of the violations of the natural laws that accompany modern 
civilization. Among the last, those that affect the nervous system are 
the most injurious to the eyes. Dissipation and the habitual use of 
narcotics — miscalled stimulants — are particularly so. Persons in 
health, with a brain and nervous system unclouded and undepressed 
by artificial habits and the use of narcotics, are those that usually 
possess the best sight, and that retain it unimpaired the longest. 

The darkness or discoloration round the eyes, frequently observable 
in females, and which is sometimes permanent, but more frequently 
periodical, is either constitutional or depends on certain conditions of 
health, and occurs and disappears with them. In the fashionable 
world, the aid of the cosmetic art is not uncommonly called in to dis- 
guise these discolorations. A little French chalk or talc, in impalpable 
powder, is rubbed on the part and then gently ''dusted off" with a 
camel-hair pencil or a tuft of badger's hair, or the excess is blown off 
with the breath. A little of the same powder that has been very 
slightly tinted with rouge or carmine is next applied, the excess being 
removed as before. The application of the pencil to clear the edges 
of the eyelashes, and of the corner of a soft napkin to "tone down" 
the outer margins of the parts treated, finishes the operation. 

The effects of dust, dirt, acrid fumes, and other irritating sub- 
stances on the eyes, may be met by freely bathing them in warm 
water, or by the use of the eye-douche. Gently raising the eyelid 
with the fingers, and holding it apart from the eye for a short 
time, will generally cause a copious discharge of tears, which wil. 
wash away the offending matter and relieve the irritation. 

The beauty of the eyelashes consists chiefly in their length and 
silkiness. These qualities may be promoted by occasionally " topping " 



BEAUTY OF FACE AND FEATURES. 425 

them with a pair of sharp scissors. The practice is most effective 
when commenced in early childhood. The least possible portion oi 
their extremities should be removed ; and the operation, to be neatly 
done, must be performed by a second person. 

To Beautify the Eyebrows. 

The eyebrows, unlike the eyelashes, should never be cut, or in any 
way subjected to the action of the scissors or razor. Their beauty 
consists in their being smooth, glossy, and well-defined, in having 
little breadth vertically, and in extending in a graceful, arched line 
over the eyes. Cutting them ultimately destroys the»e qualities, by 
causing them to grow coarse, stiff, and irregular. 

After washing the face, the fingers or napkin should be passed over 
them to smooth them and to set the hairs in their places. This is all 
that is required. Some ladies, however, when making their toilet, 
pass the finger, very slightly moistened with oil or pomade, over the 
eyebrows, to darken them and give them gloss ; but the practice is 
not to be recommended. An occasional gray or prominent bristly 
hair in the eyebrows may be plucked out with the tweezers. It 
shouid never be cut off, as is the common practice. 

The nose, though so necessary to the general make-up, seems to 
labor under the misfortune of being generally turned into ridicule 
whenever it forms the subject on the tapis. How far it deserves the 
slights and fun so frequently " poked " at it, we must leave the happy 
possessors of noses to form their own opinions. There have been, 
however, many excellent and philosophical writers who have deemed 
the human nose worthy of their serious consideration, and r vsn o£ 
eulogy. 

Sir Joshua Reynolds, the great painter, regards a well-formed nosr 
as essential to personal beauty. He tells us, that *' the line that forms 
the arch of the nose is beautiful when it is straight;" and he further 
observes, " this, then, is the central form which is oftener met witl^ 
than either the concave, convex, or any other irregular form which 
can be produced." Sir Charles Bell declares, among other matters, 



426 BEAUTY OF FACE AND FEATURES. 

that ** the nostrils " which form so prominent a portion of the nose, 
** are features which have a powerful effect in expression. The breath- 
ing drawn through them, and their structure formed for alternate 
expansion and contraction, in correspondence with the motions of the 
chest, form an index to the condition of respiration when affected by 
emotion." 

Among refined nations, and even in the fashionable world, the nose, 
may be regarded as one of the most fortunate of the features, since 
it almost uniformly escapes being interfered with at the toilet, further 
than simple cleanliness requires. This is precisely as it should be, for 
no interference with it after childhood, can advantageously modify its 
form or promote its beauty. 

Ill Treatment of the Nose. 

The nose, with its air-passages connected with it, always resents 
interference and mistreatment, whether there be frequent meddling 
with it with the fingers, blowing it frequently with ungracious violence, 
exciting it with stimulants, or choking it up with irritating powders. 
The ill effects of such treatment soon become perceptible, as may be 
frequently observed in irritable children and youth, and in inveterate 
snuff-takers. In the last, both the form of the nostrils and the tone 
of voice suffer. Heavy blows and pressure on the nose rapidly 
deform it and destroy its beauty. 

In early childhood, owing to the soft nature of the cartilages that 
form the nostrils, the shape of the lower part of the nose may gener- 
ally be slightly modified by gentle continual pressure. Thus, a nose 
disagreeably wide or spreading at its base, by being very gently and 
very slightly compressed for a few hours daily, may be reduced 
to more reasonable limits ; but beyond this nothing should be 
attempted. 

The disfigurement which the loss or distortion of the nose occasions 
must have been observed by the reader. The ambition of every one 
appears to be to possess a nose, even though it be not the nose of 
beauty. Individuals who have had the misfortune to lose this organ. 



BEAUTY OF FACE AND FEATURES. 427 

have been known to expend immense sums in ttying to obtain the 
most effective and respectable substitute for it, in gutta-percha, or 
membrane, that the art of the mechanical surgeon can produce. 




SYMMETRY OF FACE AND SHOULDERS. 

Others have submitted to tedious and painful operations, and have 
endured prolonged confinement and sufferings for the purpose of the 
lost organ being replaced in veritable flesh and blood, borrowed from 
the forehead, the fore-arm, or lower limbs. 



428 BEAUTY OF FACE AND FEATURES. 

Hairs in the nose, when troublesome, may be removed with the 
tweezers. It should, however, be recollected that they are not idly 
placed there by nature ; one of their purposes being to act as a filter 
to the air we breathe. Persons who are much exposed to a dusty 
atmosphere, had, therefore, better not remove them. 

Beautiful Mouth and Lips. 

The beauty of the human mouth and lips, the delicacy of their 
formation and tints, the;.r power of expression, which is only inferior 
to that of the eyes, and their elevated position as the media, with the 
palate, tongue, and teeth, by which we communicate our thoughts to 
others in an audible form, need scarcely be dilated oi? here- The 
poet tells us that — - 

"The lips of woman out of roses take 

The tints with which they ever stain themselves. 

They are the beautiful and lofty shelves 
Where rests the sweetness which the young hours make. 

And which the earnest boy, whom we call Love, 
Will often sip in sorrow or in play. 

Health when it comes doth ruddiness approve. 
But his strong foe soon flutters it away I 

Disease and health for a warm pair of lips, 
Like York and Lancaster, wage active strife ; 

One on his banner front the White rose keeps, 
And one the Red ; and thus with woman's life, 

Her lips are made a battle-field for those 

Who struggle for the color of a rose." 

A beautiful mouth is one that is moderately small, and has a well- 
defined and graceful outline ; and beautiful lips are such as are grace- 
fully moulded, neither thick nor thin, nor compressed nor lax, and 
that are endowed with expression, and tinted with the hues of health. 

The lips are very liable to suffer when exposed to cold and drying 
winds. The most common effects of such exposure are chaps or 
small fissures in them, and a species of erysipelatous eruption con- 
sisting of small clusters of minute vesicles, which soon become moist 
from the discharge of the watery humor which they contain. 



BEAUTY OF FACE AND FEATURES. 429 

Chapped lips most frequently occur in persons with pale, bluish, 
moist lips, and a languid circulation, who are much exposed to the 
wind in dry, cold weather, or who are continually moving from heated 
apartments to the external air. East and north-east winds are those 
that generally produce them. The occasional application of a little 
cold-cream, lip-salve, spermaceti-ointment, or any other mild unguent, 
will generally prevent them, and remove them when they have already 
formed. A still more elegant and effective preventive and remedy is 
glycerine diluted with about twice its weight of eau-de-rose, or 
glycerinated lip-salve or balsam. 

The influence which the teeth arc capable of exercising on 
the personal appearance is universally known and admitted. A 
beautiful set of teeth is one in which the teeth are com^pact and regular, 
and smooth, and peariv white, and in which the front ones, at least, are 
moderately small. 

The teeth have formed especial objects of attention, in connection 
with the toilet and cosmetic arts, from almost the earliest ages of the 
world to the present time. History and tradition, and the researches 
of archaeologists among the remains of the prehistoric periods of the 
nations of the East, show us that even dentistry may trace back its 
origin to a date not very long subsequent to the ** confusion of tongues." 

How to Care for the Teeth. 

The preservation of the teeth is an object of the utmost impor- 
tance ; since, besides their immediate connection with the personal 
appearance, their integrity is highly subservient to health, owing to 
their use in preparing the food for the subsequent process of digestion. 
Unfortunately, the teeth are either wholly neglected, or very 
improperly treated, by the mass of mankind ; and even those who 
are most attentive to their teeth, and who highly value their beauty, 
direct their efforts mainly to rendering the front teeth white, because 
these are seen when we speak, smile or eat. A thought respecting 
their permanent preservation scarcely arises until their decay com- 
<nences and warns them of their approaching failure or loss. Yet the 



430 



BEAUTY OF FACE AND FEATURES. 



preservation of the teeth and the permanent promotion of their 
beauty are nearly synonymous terms. The subject deserves the 
serious consideration of every one. 

The rational management of the teeth consists essentially in 
thorough cleanliness and the avoidance, as much as possible, of the 
use of beverages, condiments, and articles of food generally that exert 
an injurious action on them or on the gums. Among the substances 
referred to, are all those of a sour or acid or corrosive nature, includ« 
ing acid piquant sauces, pickles, sour fruits and preserves, salads 
seasoned with vinegar, and the like ; to which also must be addec^ 
medicines containing acids or acid-salts, or any salt in which a strong 
acid is united to a weak base. 



The Most Effective Cleaning. 

When such articles are eaten or taken, it is advisable either to 
clean the teeth or to rinse the mouth with pure water as soon after- 
wards as possible. The use c\( hot food and liquids is also very pre- 
judical to the teeth and gums ; and this more so in youth and early 
maturity than in after-life. Overtaxing the teeth, and frequently 
exerting them on hard, tough or gritty substances or in biting sub- 
stances so thin or slender that their cutting edges are brought into 
immediate contact and act on each other, are other practices which 
rapidly tend to injure them and to wear them out. 

Allowing particles of animal or vegetable food to remain in the 
interstices of the teeth, or in cracks or hollows in them, is particularly 
objectionable ; as the first, from the heat of the mouth, in a shori 
time generate a rancid acrimony, and the other an acidity, which not 
merely render the breath offensive, but rapidly corrode the teeth. 
Such particles should be removed by the toothpick after every meal. 

The operation of cleaning the teeth, like all other operations of the 
toilet, should be carefully performed, and in as effective a manner as 
possible. The mode in which it is commonly done is worse than use- 
less, and is not infrequently very injurious to the teeth and gums. To 
do it well and thoroughly, the action of the tooth-brush should not be 



BEAUTY OF FACE AND FEATURES. 431 

confined to the visible portion of the front teeth, but every portion of 
both the upper and under teeth, back and front, and on the inner as 
well as the outer sides, and the crowns, should receive attention. 
Without all this be done, the use of the brush can effect little in the 
way of thorough cleanliness, correction of the odor of the breath, and 
the preservation of the teeth. 

Further, great care should be taken to avoid violence to the gums. 
If th'Dse bleed, or feel sore, real injury is done them by the operation, 
notwithstanding the assertions of certain interested dentists to the con- 
trary. In such cases it will generally be found that the brush has 
been clumsily applied, or is of a coarse, inferior quality, or that the 
tooth-powder, or other cosmetic used with the brush, is of an acrid or 
gritty nature. 

Powdered Castile soap forms a simple tooth-powder which, besides 
other excellent qualities, perhaps exceeds all other substances in its 
powers of destroying the minute beings just referred to, and removing 
the tartar resulting from their presence. 

Recently-burnt charcoal, in very fine powder, is another popular and 
excellent tooth-powder which, without injuring the enamel, is suffi- 
ciently gritty to clean the teeth and remove the tartar from them, and 
possesses the advantage of also removing the offensive odor arising 
from rotten teeth, and from decomposing organic matter. The char- 
coal of the heavy, hard woods, as lignum vitae, box-wood, oak, are the 
best ; and these, as to quality, range in the order here given. Still 
more valuable, as a dentifrice, is areca-nut charcoal, which, besides 
possessing the properties of the other vegetable charcoals in an 
eminent degree, has invaluable ones peculiar to itself. 

Ears and their Ornaments. 

The ears are the only parts of the head and face that remain to be 
noticed. Moderately small and gracefully formed ears add greatly to 
the charms of the tout-ensemble. In some persons the back and 
upper lobes of the ears form a considerable angle with the sides of the 
face. This may often be observed in females, having been caused by 



432 BEAUTY OF FACE AND FEATURES. 

the practice of placing the hair behind the ears in childhood. The 
pecularity is easily remedied, during early life, by wearing through the 
night a soft bandage round the head, so arranged as to restore the 
ears to their natural position. 

The practice of wearing ear-rings is traceable to remote antiquity. 
In the Middle Ages they were commonly called " pendants." /.^ jhe 
present day their use, in different forms, exists among almost all 
nations and tribes of men, both civilized and savage. In some countries 
their use is common in both sexes. 

The operation of "piercing the ears" to fit them for holding ear- 
rings, is generally a harmless one ; but it is not always so. In persons 
prone to erysipelas it has occasionly been known, when clumsily 
performed, to cause sufficient irritation to bring on this disease. 

To be safe, the portion of the ring or pendant held in the ear should 
be of gold, and of not less than eighteen carats fine. When formed 
Df base metal it is almost sure to " canker " the ear ; and even when 
aiade of inferior alloys of gold it sometimes causes inconvenience. 

The ear is subject to numerous affections, but a notice of them, 
being purely medical or surgical, does not come within the province 
of the present work. It should never be meddled with, as it is so 
delicate that its functions, as the organ of hearing, are easily impaired. 
The use of ear-droys, and of other Hke advertised nostrums, should be 
avoided as dangerous. In all affections of it, functional or local, the 
advice of a qualified surgeon or aurist should be early sought. Deaf- 
ness commonly causes a peculiar cast of features, and a c^^-riageof the 
head, which are far from pleasing. 

The Neck of Beauty. 

Of the neck and throat little may be said. The evils resulting from 
tight bandages and pressure on these parts have been already pointed 
out ; and here it may be useful to call attention to the ill consequences 
that frequently arise from their too free exposure, or from their being 
insufficiently protected from draughts, cold, and rapid vicissitudes of 
the weather. The low dresses of fashionable life that generally replace. 



BEAUTY OF FACE AND FEATURES. 483 

at a later part of the day, the higher and warmer morning dress, which 
until then has been worn in safety and comfort, are perhaps the most 
certain traps ever invented by fashion to catch sore throats, bronchitis, 
influenza, and a whole host of breath-ailments, of which fatal lung 
diseases are the common result. 

In early life, low frocks are more particularly dangerous, and are 
rendered still more objectionable from the habit which children com= 
monly have of shuffling them off one of the shoulders, and thus leav- 
ing the upoer portion of the chest exposed in a manner that even the 
most hardy often cannot long resist. 

It should be recollected that the throat and neck, particularly the 
first, contain numerous important glands, and other organs, which are 
highly susceptible to cold and changes of temperarure ; and that, at 
the bottom of the throat, lie the apexes of the lungs — those delicate 
organs, which, in these latitudes, are many times more susceptible to 
disease from exposure and climatic changes than all the other viscera 
put together. 

The neck of beauty is that of the period which ranges from the early 
prime to the ripe maturity of woman, of which the most perfect con- 
ception is given us in the Greek sculptures — the Venus, the Diana, 
the Niobe, and many of the Naiads. In masculine beauty, the Apollo 
Belvedere, in this respect, furnishes a transcendent model to all time. 
Neither the elongated cylinder that forms the neck of the crane- 
family, nor the frustum of a cone which forms that of certain porcine 
bipeds, can possibly have the slightest pretentions to beauty 

Of the shoulders, it may be observed that, in woman, those are the 
most beautiful which are neither wide nor meanly narrow, and which 
droop or flow, as it were, into the arms in a graceful undulating curve. 
.... nan, broad shoulders, if well proportioned, are a sign of strength. 
S*"?-ys or corsets, worn in youth and early maturity, tend to make the 
s^i^ulders high and broad, and thus distort, instead of improve, the 
fig re. 



PART V. 

politeness; or, woman in 
Society. 

CHAPTER XXXI. 
Tasteful and Becoming Dress. 

Every Lady Should Pay Attention to Dress — Fitness — Subordinate to the Person 
— Suited to Different Seasons — Graceful Curves — Hints on Colors — Variety in 
Costume — Dressing the Hair — The Parasol — Bonnets — " Nut-brown Maids " — 
Use of Veils — Dress for the Neck — Sore Throats — Sudden Changes of Covering 
— ^Wearing Ornaments — Vulgarity of Too Much Jewelry. 

T yOMEN are sometimes charged with devoting too much atten- 
j^ tion to matters of dress. There is, perhaps, some foundation 
for the accusation, for these things should not certainly be 
made the principal business of their lives ; but we would by no means 
counsel them to treat dress as a trifling or unimportant matter. 
The grand cause of regret is, not that they devote themselves is zeal- 
ously to it, but that their studies and labors in that direction are not 
guided by a better knowledge and more artistic tastes. 

With all the time, attention, and labor bestowed upon the subject, 
comparatively few women, especially in this country, dress well, either 
in an esthetic or a hygienic point of view ; and what is intended to 
heighten their charms, too often obscures, and, in the end, destroys 
them. A woman who has herself the reputation of dressing well, and 
who has had abundant opportunities of observing toilets of different 
nations, says : ** The great majority of my sex understand the art of 
dress no further than that ' fine feathers make fine birds ; ' hence, they 
dress more or less in bad taste." 
434 



1 



TASTEFUL DRESS. 435 

The fact is, dress is not studied as an art, and in the light of the 
fundamental principles of taste, as it should be, but is subjected to the 
arbitrary and senseless rules of fashion. 

Fashion is an arch tyrant whom we would gladly overthrow, but 
she is securely enthroned beyond the reach of our blows. A direct 
attack would be useless. Our only hope is in gradually undermining 
her power by the diffusion of knowledge and the cultivation of popular 
tastes. To contribute to such an extent as our very limited space will 
permit, to these ends, we offer the following hints : 

Rules for Dress. 

Dress has primarily two functions — to clothe and to ornament ; but 
use and beauty, in this as in other cases, so far from requiring any 
gacrifice for combination, are found, each in the highest degree, where 
both are most fully obtained — the fittest or most comfortable dress 
being that which is most graceful or becoming. Fitness is the 
primary demand, and the dress that appears uncomfortable is un- 
tasteful. 

** Dress is always to be considered as secondary to the person." 
This is a fundamental maxim in the art of costume, but is often lost 
sight of, and dress made obtrusive at the expense of the individuality 
of the wearer. A man's vest or cravat must not seem too important 
a part of him ; and a woman should not be wholly lost in her skirts. 
If you are not better and more beautiful than your clothes, you are, 
indeed, a man or a woman of straw. 

Mrs. E. Oakes Smith very happily says : " The greatest compli- 
ment that can be paid to a woman is to forget her dress, or rather not 
to see it — as proving it to be so characteristic that we are not incom- 
moded by observation, and are thus left to unalloyed companionship. 
We see, as it were, face to face, and not through whalebone and 
starch. The rose in her hair is a part of her womanhood, and the 
robe, in hue and shape, is so a part of her mold that we do not see it, 
but her. All is harmony, and she is the genius to which ever>- thing 
tlse has become subordinate.'* 



436 TASTEFUL DRESS. 

It follows from the principles already stated, that any costume, to 
fulfill properly either of its important functions, must possess fitness in 
forms, materials, and colors to the person of the wearer, and to the 
conditions of time, place, and occasion on which it is worn. The fact 
that fashion compels us constantly to violate this principle does not 
invalidate it. In treating of dress as an art, we must ignore fashion 
altogether. In our practice we must do what we can. It is but just^ 
however, to fashion and its promoters, to admit that they are not 
responsible for all the incongruities with which we meet. They are 
often mainly due to bad taste and affectation. 

" A Poorer Sort of Man." 

The first application of the law of fitness gives us the distinction 
of sex in dress, and shows the absurdity of dressing men and women 
alike. The physiological reasons why every form of dress which is 
becoming on one sex may with propriety be rejected by the other, 
will suggest themselves to any one at all familiar wit/1 the human 
figure. 

**Some," Mrs. Smith says, "have contended that there should be 
no difference in the dress of the sexes. I think that a moment's 
reflection will convince us that this is a mistaken taste. As a general 
rule, we are shorter than the other sex, and I am sure we do not 
wish to seem only a poorer sort of men." 

There should be fitness to the individual, as well as to the sex. We 
instinctively know that the young and the olid should not dress alike. 
Neither should the tall and the short, the pale and the rosy, the grave 
and the gay, the tranquil and the vivacious. Each variety of form, 
color, and character has its appropriate style. 

"Woman," the erratic, but beautiful and witty Lola Montes said, 
" may take a lesson on dress from the garments which nature puts 
on at the various seasons of the year. In the spring of youth, when 
all is lovely and gay, the light and transparent robes of brilliant colors 
may appropriately adorn the limbs of beauty. Especially if the maid 
possess the airy form of Hebe, a light, flowing drapery is best suited 



TASTEFUL DRESS. 437 

to display her charms. This simple garb leaves to beauty all her 
empire. No heavy ornaments should load the figure or distract the 
attention in its admiration of the lovely outlines. The young woman 
of graver mien should select her apparel with reference to her different 
style of beauty. Her robes should always be long and more ample 
than those of her gayer sister ; and they should also be thicker in 
substance and of a more sober color." 

"In form," another writer says, ** simplicity and long, unbroken 
lines give dignity, while complicated and short lines express vivacity. 
Curves, particularly if long and sweeping, give grace, while straight 
lines and angles indicate power and strength. In color, unity of tint 
gives repose — if somber, gravity, but if light and clear, then a joyous 
serenity — ^variety of tint gives vivacity, and if contrasted, brilliancy." 

Stripes and Flounces. 

Tall women should not wear dresses with longitudinal stripes, as 
they will make them appear taller than they really are. Flounces and 
stripes running around the dress have an opposite effect, and should 
be avoided by short persons. Light colors are more suitable to small 
persons than to large ones, as they increase the apparent size. The 
colors worn should be determined by the complexion, and should har- 
monize with it and with each other. The following suggestions from 
Youmans' " Household Science " will be useful to our fair readers : 

" Any colored objects, as bonnet trimmings or draperies, in the 
vicinity of the countenance, change its color ; but clearly to trace that 
change vv^e must know what the cast of complexion is. This variee 
infinitely, but we recognize two general sorts, light and dark, or blonde 
and brunette. In the blondes or fair-complexioned the color of the 
hair is a mixture of red, yellow, and brown, resulting in a pale orange- 
brown. The skin is lighter, containing little orange, but with variable 
tinges of light red. 

" The blue eye of the blonde is complementary to the orange of the 
hair. In brunettes the hair is black, and the skin dark, or of an 
orange tint. The red of the brunette is deeper or less rosy than that 



438 TASTEFUL DRESS. 

of the blonde. Now, the same colors affect these two styles of com- 
plexion very differently. A green setting in bonnet or dress throws 
its complement of red upon the face. If the complexion be pale and 
deficient in ruddy freshness, or admits of having its rose-tint a little 
heightened, the green will improve it, though it should be delicate in 
order to preserve harmony of tone. 

** But green changes the orange hue of the brunette into a disagree- 
able brick-red. If any green at all be used, in such case it should be 
dark. For the orange complexion of brunette the best color is 
yellow. Its complementary, violet, neutralizes the yellow of the 
orange and leaves the red, thus increasing the freshness of the com- 
plexion. If the skin be more yellow than orange, the complementary 
violet falling upon it changes it to a dull, pallid white. Blue imparts 
its complementary orange, which improves the yellow hair of the 
blondes, and enriches white complexions and light flesh tints. Blue 
is, therefore, the standard color for a blonde, as yellow is for a 
brunette. But blue injuries the brunette by deepening the orange, 
which was before too deep. 

Complexion Must be Consulted. 

'* Violet yellows the skin, and is inadmissible except where its tone 
is so deep as to whiten the complexion by contrast. Rose-red, by 
throwing green upon the complexion, impairs its freshness. Red is 
objectionable, unless it be sufficiently dark to whiten the face by con- 
trast of tone. Orange makes light complexions blue, yellow ones 
green, and whitens the brunette. 

" White, if without luster, has a pleasant effect with light complex- 
ions ; but dark or bad complexions are made worse by its strong con- 
trast. Fluted laces are not liable to this objection, for they reflect the 
light in such a way as to produce the same effect as gray. Black 
adjacent to the countenance makes it lighter." 

Dress should accord with the wearer's pecuniary means, her social 
position, and the society in which she moves. 

One's costume should be suited to the time, place and other cm 



TASTEFUL DRESS. 439 

cumstances under which it is to be worn. You would not, of course, 
wear your summer clothes in winter, or your winter clothes in 
summer. For a similar reason you should have one dress for the 
parlor and another for the kitcken, one for in-doors and another for 
the street or a ramble in the country. Long flowing and even trail- 
ing skirts are beautiful and appropriate in the drawing-room, but in 
the muddy streets, draggling in the filth and embarrassing every 
movement of the wearer, or in the country, among the bushes and 
briers, they lose all their beauty and grace, because no longer fitting. 

Fettered by Fashion. 

No dress that hinders the movements of the body or prevents its 
symmetrical development can be either fitting or in any high sense 
beautiful, whatever fashion, which has no respect for physiology, may 
say to the contrary. 

.An application of the principles just laid down would give a pleas- 
ing variety in style and color in place of the uniformity which now so 
generally prevails. No two persons should dress precisely alike, 
unless two can be found between whom no point of difference, either 
in physical or mental character, can be discovered. 

What is wanted is to get rid of the absurd tyranny of fashion, so 
that what is becoming to each person, whether man or woman, m^y 
b«" worn without social outlawry or discredit. Of the advent of such 
a state of things as this we have strong hopes. There is now cer- 
tainly a tendency in the right direction among the more thoughtful 
and independent of both sexes. 

An authority on this subject has the following hint, which we hope 
no fair reader of ours will feel constrained to take to herself : 

" It is no uncommon thing for women to become slatternly after 
marriage. They say they have other things to attend to, and dress is 
habitually neglected — except, perhaps, on great occasions, when there 
is a display of finery and bad taste abroad, to be followed by greater 
negligence at home. Great respect is shown to what is called * com^ 
pany,* but apart from this there is a sort of cui bono abandonment^ 



440 TASTEFUL DRESS 

and the compliment which is paid to strangers is withheld from those 
who have the best right to claim, and are most likely to appreciate it. 
This is a fatal, but too common error. When a woman, with refer- 
ence to the question of personal adornment, begins to say to herself, 
* It 19 only my husband,' she must prepare herself for consequences 
which, perhaps, she may regret to the latest day of her life." 

In dressing the hair there is room for the display of a good deal 
of taste and judgment ; but every lady will be able, after a few 
experiments, to decide what mode renders her face most attractive. 

Ornamental Dressing of the Hain 

Ringlets or frizzes hanging about the forehead suit almost every 
one. On the other hand, the fashion of putting the hair smoothly, 
and drawing it back on either side, is becoming to few ; it has a look 
of vanity instead of simplicity : the face must do everything for it, 
which is asking too much, especially as hair in its pure state is the 
ornament intended for it by nature. Hair is to the human aspect 
what foliage is to the landscape. 

Women are provided with a more dense and abundant covering of 
hair than men can boast of, and it is possible for that hair to be so 
arranged about the head as to discharge nearly all the functions of a 
perfect hat. There is, or was, for example, a fashion of ''doing " the 
hair that consisted in forming it into several plaits, that were then 
lightly coiled round the head so as to evenly cover it over the greater 
part of its extent. By this means the head was provided with a 
natural cap, made of a material that of all others would appear to be 
the most suitable as a covering for it, that was light, easily penetrated 
by air, pervious to moisture, and not readily influenced by change of 
temperature. 

In ancient Greece the hair appears to have been so worn as to 
render the head, under ordinary circumstances, independent of artifi- 
cial protection. This was effected by keeping it moderately short, 
and by massing it more or less evenly over the head. The hair was 
thus kept loose, and the scalp free from unnecessary compression. 



TASTEFUL DRESS. 441 

As one other example, may be noted the fashion of wearing the hair 
short, and of splitting it up into a thousand small curls that evenly 
covered the head with a light but efficient covering. In such a 
.method the scalp is protected by means that find their most complete 
fulfilment in the woolly head of the Negro. 

In the next place, women are much less exposed to the vagaries of 
climate than are men. They are not (or should not be) exposed to a 
scorching sun for many hours while engaged in some laborious work, 
nor, under ordinary circumstances, are they required to bdttle witK 
wind and rain ; their Hfe is such that it is spent rather under shelter 
than in the open, and even their out-door amusements do not usually 
call for much intimate acquaintance with the " elements." 

Protection Against Heat and Cold. 

Lastly, the parasol must be regarded as a kind of hat. We would 
not for a moment advocate the use of this incumbrance. But its 
adoption is very general, and it may fairly be considered as affording 
a covering for the head. The thickness of the hair and the excellent 
blood supply of the scalp afford substantial protection against cold, 
but against solar heat the civilized female requires artificial aid. 

The parasol is certainly not the best means of affording that assist- 
ance. It has to be supported over the head, and is one of the many 
little obstacles in the way of an easy and graceful carriage. That 
women can without detriment go with the head practically bare — if we 
exempt the umbrella and sunshade as headgear — was, we imagine, 
practically demonstrated some years ago, when the bonnet was 
reduced to such microscopic dimensions, that by no stretch of lan- 
guage could it be said to have covered the head. 

Whatever artificial covering is adopted for the female head, it should 
at least have these qualifications : it should be light and pervious to 
air and moisture ; it should maintain the head at all parts at an 
equable temperature ; it should not constrict the scalp, and it should 
be competent to protect the eyes from the glare of the sun. Women 
carry too much rather than too little upon the head. 



442 TASTEFUL DRESS. 

Considering the hair as a head covering, it is often most indiscreetly 
used. It is allowed to grow too long, and to oppress the head by its 
needless weight ; or it is massed into knobs and protuberances, that 
leave one part of the scalp almost bare and another part unduly 
covered up ; or false hair is indulged in, and collections of this material 
are located upon the scalp in spots indicated by fashion, with the 
result that undue pressure is brought to bear upon the skin, and the 
temperature of the head is disturbed and rendered unequal. 

Hats and Bonnets. 

With reference to bonnets, they are often rendered unduly heavy 
by superfluous ornament, even if not of much weight in themselves. 
Bonnets and hats, moreover, are frequently poised on one segment of 
the head only. They have been worn located At the back of the 
head, so as to leave a considerable portion of the vault quite bare ; 
and have, on the other hand, been worn so far forward as to approach 
the eyebrows. Bonnets should, if possible, protect the eyes from the 
glare of the sun. At present this protection is afforded by the parasol, 
which is tolerated because just now it is unfashionable to exhibit upon 
the cheeks the signs of health. 

The edicts of fashion assert that the complexion must be ** pre- 
served ;" a sickly pallor is more to be desired than a ruddy skin, and 
there is some vulgarity surrounding the " nut-brown maid." So long, 
therefore, as the natural effects of sunlight and a freshening breeze 
upon the healthy cheek are vulgar, so long will parasols be a neces- 
sity. When, however, the popular taste will allow that there are 
beauties in health as well as in disease, the sunshade may be cast 
aside, the face may be freshened by sun and wind, and a bonnet may 
be worn so constructed as to shade the eyes from glare. 

One word with regard to veils. They are worn, we are told, for 
many reasons. They keep the hair from being blown about ; they 
help to maintain a bonnet in its place ; and they serve to hide a 
coarse skin, and to modify the effect of a spotty complexion. It 
is for others to judge whether these objects are sufficiently weighty to 



TASTEFUL DRESS. 443 

countenance an article of dress that must under any circumstances be 
uncomfortable. We do not for one moment believe the statements 
that have been advanced to the effect that veils cause short-sighted- 
ness, squinting, and blindness, although they must interfere a little with 
vision when worn. 

When carried over the mouth they soon become saturated with 
moisture, and thereby cause all the air that is inhaled to be unduly 
charged with dampness. This can scarcely be other than a disadvan- 
tage. The veils thus moistened, moreover, may in cold weather lead 
to chapping of the skin and to cracked lips, and, owing to the poison- 
ous dyes that the veils sometimes contain, may induce certain 
conspicuous eruptions of the face. 

Danger from Changes of Clothing. 

Perhaps the most common fault observed in the neck clothing of 
women consists in the frequent changes that are affected in the 
amount of material worn round tn*^ part at various times. At one 
period of the day the neck may be well covered up the to chin, while 
at another period (as, for example, when an evening dress is donned) it 
may be suddenly left absolutely bare. To keep the neck constantly 
well protected by clothing may not be an evil, nor may it be injurious 
to leave it constantly entirely bare, but it certainly is an evil at one 
time to protect the part elaborately, and at another to leave it free 
from all covering. Sudden fluctuations in the circulation and tempera- 
ture of the skin are not well borne in any part of the body, and the 
neck forms no exception to the rule. 

As to what may be the actual manifestations of this unwise prac- 
tice it is, perhaps, difficult to speak with precision. We think it will, 
however, be allowed that women are more prone than men to sore 
throats, to colds, to mild attacks of laryngitis, associated with some 
loss of voice, and to swellings of the lymphatic glands in the neck. 
It may not be incorrect to assume that these evils are often to be 
traced to the uncertain covering of the female neck, and to the abrupt 
Suctuations of temperature to which that part is sometimes exposed. 



444 TASTEFUL DRESS. 

Women, perhaps, indulge more frequently than men in the practice 
of wearing tight collars and bands around the neck. This practice 
appears to be less common since the admiration for a " swan-like 
neck " has waned, and since it has been demonstrated that such a 
neck is generally the outcome of an undesirable degree of emaciation.. 

The Wearing of Ornaments. 
That beauty 

* ' Needs not the foreign aid of ornament, 
But is when unadorned adorned the most, ' * 

is a trite observation ; but with a little qualification it is worthy of 
general acceptance. Aside from the dress itself, ornaments should be 
very sparingly used — at any rate, the danger lies in overloading one's 
self, and not in using too few. A young girl, and especially one of a 
light and airy style of beauty, should never wear gems. A simple 
flower in her hair or on her bosom is all that good taste will permit. 
When jewels or other ornaments are worn, they should be placed 
where you desire the eye of the spectator to rest, leaving the parts to 
which you do not want attention called as plain and negative as 
possible. There is no surer sign of vulgarity than a profusion of 
heavy jewelry carried about upon the person, suggestive of a Mexican 
mule loaded down with gold. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 
Deportment and Manners. 

Importance of Good Behavior — Beauty Marred by Lrack of Grace — Carriage of the 
Body Reveals Character — Absence of Affectation — Self-possession — A Graceful 
Walk — ^The Soldier's Drill — Avoiding Offensive Habits — Disorderly Costume — 
Coarse Eating and Drinking — Disagreeable Noises — I/Ove to Others — Promot- 
ing Universal Happiness — Selfishness — Right of Privacy — Casual Acquaint- 
ances — Haughtiness and Pride — Anger — Rudeness — Cheerful Demeanor^ 
Drones and Workers — Empty Ornaments — Keeping ;^ngagements — Diffusing 
Good Cheer. 

DEPORTMENT is the manner of carrying one's self; carriage, 
manner, or behavior. Good looks are very desirable ; but far 
more depends upon behavior. The neatness of the person, 
upon which we have so strongly insisted, is a part of behavior ; so is 
dress, w^hich is a mode of expression ; and which gives us methods of 
enhancing and displaying beauties, as well as of concealing defects. 

But a handsome and well-dressed person may be awkward and con- 
strained in manner ; stiff or slouching in gait ; angular and extrava- 
gant in gesture ; sullen, haughty, insolent, cold, rude ; or shy and 
sheepish ; or craving, fawning, and impertinently familiar. There are 
a hundred graces and excellencies of manner in the position of the 
body, the attitudes, movements, gestures, poses of the head, carriage 
of the arms, placing of the feet, and all those nameless properties and 
charms, which are in some the unconscious and spontaneous expression 
of their natures, and, in others, are more or less acquired by the 
faculty of imitation, and careful training and culture. 

It needs no argument to prove that beauty was not intended alone 
ftor chiefly to give happiness to its possessors ; and that, consequently, 
society has pre-eminent rights in regard to it. The possession of 
beauty, then, brings with it a heavy responsibility. You have no 
right to abuse, or mar, or spoil it. You have no right to lose it, by 
neglect of health, or any habit which tends to the destruction of 

446 



446 DEPORTMENT AND MANNERS, 

beauty. You have no right to hide it in ugly and deforming costumes. 
You have no right to mar it by any lack of grace and propriety of 
manners. 

Attitude, the simple pose of the body, is a matter of great impor- 
tance. It reveals character and breeding. A gentleman or lady 
stands confessed. Awkwardness and vulgarity are shown in attitude. 
Once, at an entertainment, we saw a house, full to the gallery, give 
three rounds of plaudits at the simple silent act of a peasant girl 
sitting down in a chair. It was nothing else It had nothing to do 
with the plot of the piece. It was simply and only sitting dowr. 
But what grace, and beauty, and exqusite delicacy were revealed in 
every movement, and the quiet, easy attitude into which she sank was 
a living picture that charmed every beholder. 

Awkward Postures. 

The first polite accomplishment is to know how to stand. An 
awkward person is in a perpetual fidget, and changes incessantly from 
one uneasy posture to another. He knows not where to put his feet, 
and his hands are utterly superfluous. There they go — now behind 
him, now into his pockets — now under his coat tails; and so he 
fidgets and shifts his weight from one leg to the other, and becomes 
all the more awkward from the consciousness of his awkwardness. 
If he could possibly forget himself, and let his Hmbs take care of 
themselves, it would be better. The same is sometimes true of ladies. 

The conditions of good deportment are simplicity, or absence of 
affectation ; ease, or absence of constraint, fussiness or fidgitiness ; 
and self-possession, self-command, or freedom from timidity. The 
whole is comprehended in simplicity. Simple manners are good 
manners. Quiet, easy, calm self-posession gives unconscious grace 
and dignity. 

The perfection of good manners is repose ; not languor, nor 
affected coolness, nor hauteur, but the calm, quiet, simple dignity of 
the true gentleman or lady. Such persons stand quietly on both legs, 
but bearing a little more weight on one than the other ; the toes turn 



DEPORTMENT AND MANNERS. 447 

out neatly, the head is a Httle turned, the body is never kept a hard 
straight line — but all is natural ease and unaffected grace. 

The arms hang naturally from the shoulders, the hands are in some 
quiet position, the fingers curve gracefully, with slight partings 
between the first and second, and the third and fourth. There is 
no stiffhess, no uneasy shifting and fidgeting, no moving of fingers or 
features, but all is rounded and graceful as a statue. It is worth some 
pains to be a lady of good standing in society. 

Graceful Walking an Accomplishment. 

One should learn no less to sit at ease. Formerly, ladies were 
trained to sit upright, and never touch the back of a chair. They 
might as well have sat on stools. It is now permitted to lean, and, 
where one is intimate, to lounge ; but it is never permitted to be 
awkward or ungraceful — never to stretch out the legs, or spread them 
apart. No gentleman tilts up his chair or sits astride it ; or fiisses with 
his feet, or drums with his fingers. He sits like a gentleman — it is 
difficult to describe how ; but every one recognizes it, and every one 
should do his best to imitate it ; or 'oy being a gentleman, to make it 
the natural expression of his character. So, too, a true lady studies 
ease and grace. 

The gait and air in movement are more complex matters. To walk 
well, easily, gracefully, is a very important accomplishment. What 
we do so often we should do well ; and walking is not only useful and 
necessary, but a great enjoyment ; and every man's gait is the expres- 
sion of his natural and acquired character. The gait may be heavy or 
light ; neat or clumsy ; erect or slouching ; pretty or ugly ; quick or 
slow ; awkward or graceful. The walk or carriage of the body 
expresses every virtue and every vice, every beauty and every deform 
ity, habits and diseases. 

As the mind and heart are expressed in bodily movements these 
movements in return act upon the intellectual and moral faculties. 
The raw recruit, drilled into the accomplished soldier, has his mind 
•* set up," and brought into soldierly habits, as well as his body. The 



448 DEPORTMENT AND MANNERS. 

training of the body certainly affects the mind, and there is more than 
an analogy between physical and moral uprightness and grace ; and 
the drill-sergeant and dancing-master exercise a deeper influence than 
has commonly been recognized. 

The drill-sergeant takes a booby, a clodhopper, a graceless vaga- 
bond. He straightens him up, turns out his toes, brings back his 
shoulders, throws out his chest, and in a few months makes a soldier 
of him — a straight, well-set, firm, alert, active man — a self-reliant, 
courageous soldier. And he is a different man forever after. His 
character has changed with his bearing. Much of the ignoble and 
awkward in his nature, which found habitual expression in his mien, 
has been suppressed, driven back, or rooted out hke weeds ; while the 
finer and more manly characteristics are brought into activity, strength- 
ened by exercise, and rendered habitual ; and this man, to the last 
day of his life, shows something of the manner and bearing, and 
exhibits correspondingly the character of a soldier. 

All Done by Training. 

And the dancing-master or teacher of gymnastics and the graces of 
posture and movement, performs a similar but more refined office. It 
is his business to bring out, develop, cultivate, and render habitual, 
the dignities and graces of polished life. He teaches the pupil how 
he should carry his head, strengthen his limbs, stand, sit, bow, walk, 
or dance, if dancing is the fashion of the time. He trains him into 
the external expression of a pure and refined and elegant character ; 
and, as in the case of the soldier, the external acts upon the internal, 
and a man becomes really what he endeavors to appear. 

And in this we have much of the philosophy of education and 
social culture. By exercise ou** dormant faculties are brought into 
action. Internal action may be induced by the external expression. 
Be what you would appear, certainly ; but also appear what you wish 
to be. Assume the air and manner of calmness, and it will help you 
to be calm. Put on the natural action of any faculty, and it will 
excite its activity. Thus we may refine and purify the character. 



DEPORTMENT AND MANNERS. 



^^ 



When we are trying to reform our lives and make ourselves the best 
we can be, we may begin with the external deportment. 

The carriage of the body, and habits of dexterity, grace, and ele- 
gance are of great importance. Children, it is said, are always grace- 
ful — they are simple, unconscious, unrestrained, unaffected ; and the 
attitudes and movements of a child ought to be as pretty as those of a 
kitten or a bird. But we fall into bad habits ; stoop until we grow 
round-shouldered ; get into awkward, lounging ways ; carry our hands 
uneasily as if they did not belong to us, and make ourselves generally 
disagreeable. 

Straight Figure and Full Chest. 

A little care, a little resolute training, the observation and imitation 
of ease and grace in others, will do much to remedy these besetting 
sins. If a boy or girl will every day stand with the back against a 
wall, and brace up in ph)^sical uprightness, it will soon cure a droop- 
ing spine. If they will resolutely let the arms hang quietly at the 
side, they will conquer the bashful tendency to fidget with the fingers. 
If a girl will daily open her chest, and breathe full breaths for some 
minutes, she will improve her health and figure. 

Every school-master and school-mistress ought to be somewhat oi 
a drill-sergeant, and attend to the personal appearance and habits, 
carriage and manners, of the pupils. This is the specialty of the 
dancing-master and gymnast, no doubt ; but as every school cannot 
have its special teacher of gymnastics and dancing, all our teachers 
should be capable of giving the rudiments at least of refined carriage 
and manners. 

In the absence of direct teaching, much is done by unconscious or 
conscious imitation — only we should know what models we ought to 
admiit. The worst habits of more exalted personages have found 
multitudes of imitators. Every one who, by position or talents, grace 
or beauty, makes an impression upon others, is a teacher of manners. 
How little do people think of their responsibilities. 

To walk easily the body must be erect, but not stiff; the arms 
^jiust swing, not too far ; the chest expanded for full breathing ; the 
29 



M DEPORTMENT AND MANNER^ 

shoulders held back ; the toes a little, but not too much, turned out r 
and all the muscles of the foot brought into a springy, elastic action. 
A fine gait in man or woman, as in many animals, is one of the pret- 
tiest things in the world. Avoid walking stiffly, slovenly, clumsily ; 
and ladies, because they wear long dresses, must not, therefore, be 
careless of their feet, turning in their toes, or lifting their skirts with 
their heels. 

Be Careful to Avoid Fatigue. 

Walking is good exercise ; but one may have too much of it. It 
is a relief from sedentary and monotonous employment ; but where 
there is much brainwork, long walks are too exhausting. A short, 
brisk walk, quickening the circulation, and consequently the breath- 
ing, is better. Delicate persons and invalids are injured by long 
walks. The vital forces are limited, and must be used with economy. 

In our efforts to live a good life, satisfactory to ourselves and pleas- 
ing to our fellow-creatures, there are many things we must carefully 
avoid. We must avoid every action that is painful, disgusting, offen- 
sive or troublesome to those about us. We must '* cease to do evil," 
and then " learn to do well," in the little things of life as well as in 
the most important. We talk of rights and freedom, but no one has 
a right to do the smallest wrong to himself or another. There is no 
freedom but the right to do right. Every improper act really injure? 
both ourselves and many others. We have no right in any way tc 
diminish our power of being good and doing good. A musician, 
playing out of tune, hurts his own ear, and offends the ears of all who 
hear hii^i. The man who does a distasteful act when quite alone 
hurts hi«» own sense of propriety ; if he does it with others he offends 
them and injures himself. 

No one has the right to appear in pubhc in a dirty, disorderly or 
unbecoming costume. In this matter there is a world of difference 
in different countries You may go every day to the most frequented 
public resorts in Paris without ever seeing a man, much less a woman, 
in offensive attire. Can the same be said of all places of public 
resort in America ? 



DEPORTMENT AND MANNERS. 45l 

What belongs to the toilet should never be done in public. One 
may repair an accident, put up a stray ringlet, arrange a shawl, tie a 
string ; but one may not comb the hair, clean the nails, or touch the 
nose or ears. It is not dehcate to scratch one's self. Only under the 
most urgent necessity can one blow her nose in company. It may be 
wiped, not blown, if it can be avoided, especially at table. In Eng- 
land no one is ever seen to spit — we wish the same could be said of 
all parts of America. Where spitting is unavoidable, use a pocket 
handkerchief; and in all such matters take great care never to be for 
one instant an object of disgust. In this matter the French and Ger- 
mans are nearly as bad as the Americans, and Vienna is the only 
place we know of where the churches are furnished with spittoons. 

We think those who wish to live purely and delicately, and neve^ 

injure themselves or offend others, must avoid coarse eating as well as 

coarse drinking. There are kinds of food which are uncleanly and 

unsafe. Onions taint the breath too much for general society. If all 

eat onions, it is different. Cabbage is doubtful. Some kinds of fish, 

as herrings, not only taint the breath, but their odor exudes from thp 

skin. 

The Sin of Gluttony. 

A pure and inoffensive diet seems to us a cardinal point in goo^ 
behavior. Gross feeding, in quality and quantity, produces obstruc- 
tions, obesity, heaviness of body and mind, and so many unpleasant 
diseases and conditions as to unfit people for society, and even for life ; 
and gluttony is worse, if possible, than drunkenness, both being 
rightly reckoned among the deadly sins, any tendency to which every 
well-meaning person should carefully avoid. 

Try to free yourself from all annoying habits. Do not make dis- 
agreeable noises, nor any noises that can be avoided, in eating or 
drinking. Never hum or whistle, unless quite alone. To do either 
in company may be very disagreeable. Beware of sniffing, or any 
unpleasant sound of nose, or mouth, or breathing. Sleep with your 
mouth closed, so as to never snore. So resolutely guard your life 
iVo.n any impropriety that you cannot even dream of one — for a careir 



452 DEPORTMENT AND MANNERS. 

conscience never sleeps. It is the strong desire and resolute will to be 
right and do right that is wanting in those who do wrong. 

In a word, avoid everything wrong, everything improper, every- 
thing that hurts yourself or that may be annoying or disagreeable to 
others ; and do what is just, right, good and pleasant to all about you. 
The desire and will to do this is the foundation of good behavior. 
There must be a good heart, then a good understanding, taste, tact, 
delicacy, all that belongs to an active benevolence, extending to the 
little things of life as well as the greater and more important. Often 
we cannot see our own faults ; therefore, we should invite friendly 
criticism, never be hurt by it, and do our best to profit by it. 

Members of a Common Society. 

Men are gregarious — made to live in societies — their well-being and 
happiness very largely depending upon their associations with each 
Dther. We come together in friendship, love, mutual help, and in 
many ways to benefit or amuse one another. We live in families, 
neighborhoods, societies, churches, and all sorts of industrial, benevo- 
lent, civil and military organizations. We are parents, children, 
brothers, sisters, masters, servants, variously related to those around 
us — bound together by common interests, and we should all be work- 
ing together for the general good ; all for each, each for all. The 
welfare and happiness of society depend upon the behavior of its 
members to each other — upon what we call manners — upon the way 
'n which each one makes himself or herself pleasant, agreeable and 
useful to all around him. 

We have already spoken of the care of the person necessary that we 
may avoid giving digust or pain, and which will make our presence a 
delight ; of dress for comfoit, health, and a decent, and even elegant i 
adornment of the carriage of the body or deportment ; and now we 
must consider how people should treat each other o ^s to promote 
each other's happiness. 

The foundation of good manners is in that love of our neighbor 
which religion requires as the second duty of every human being, and 



DEPORTMENT AND MANNERS. 453 

which naturally follows from fulfilling the first ; for it is impossible 
for us to love God without loving also our fellow-men. This love 
gives us the desire to promote their well-being and happiness. If we 
have this love for them we can never treat them with rudeness or 
injustice ; but always with respect, sincerity, kindness, delicacy, and 
true charity, A good person has the foundation of good manners. 
The Christian must be essentially, and in feelings and intentions, e 
gentleman or lady, though outwardly falling short of the courtesy 
taught by St. Paul. 

One of the first points of good breeding is to respect the person and 
the rights of others — never to intrude upon them ; never to be rude ; 
never to be in any way troublesome or offensive. We have some- 
thing to learn in this matter. When a Frenchman enters the company 
of others, if only in a wine-shop or an omnibus, he deferently salutes 
the company by raising his hat, as much as to say, " by your good 
leaves, ladies and gentlemen." 

Always Mindful of Others. 

He never enters the shop or cafe without politely saluting the person 
in charge, and he does the same on leaving. " If you please," is on 
his lips continually, and at the slightest possible offence, or the least 
accidental encroachment, he gracefully begs your pardon. In the 
greatest crowd in Paris, one is never crowded. Each person is careful 
not to incommode his neighbor. No matter how many may assemble 
at the doors of a theatre or other place of amusement, they never 
crowd each other ; they never struggle for the best places ; there is no 
ugly rush, with women screaming from pain or fright, and possibly 
fainting and being trampled upon. 

Every one has the right of privacy — the right to be alone — the 
right of silence and seclusion ; and even in the intimacy of family life, 
this right should be carefully regarded. One should never approach 
another without some indication of welcome ; never enter the private 
apartment of another without being sure that it is not an annoyance. 
There is need of tact in these matters, and at the least sign of disquiet. 



454 DEPORTMENT AND MANNERb. 

we should increase our distance. We need not be shy or bashful, 

however pretty and graceful a certain amount of these qualities may 

be, but in kindnesss and in justice, as well as from self-respect, and 

the desire to stand well with others, we should carefully avoid intru- 

siveness. 

Rules of Salutation. 

It is for the elder person to first salute, or welcome the younger ° 
for the person in a higher social position to recognize or address one 
in a lower ; for a lady to be the first to salute, speak or hold out her 
hand to a gentleman. When two strangers meet, if there is any 
obvious difference in age, rank or position, it should be regarded. A 
boy should not enter into conversation with a man, nor a gentleman 
with a lady, beyond some slight civility, without due encouragement. 

When persons meet on equal terms, in a railway car, at the sea- 
side, or wherever accident may throw them together, although there 
should be no intrusion, there may be, and ought to be, on the part of 
every one, a frank, kindly, neighborly readiness to he^ each other 
by word and deed. 

Very pleasant acquaintances are made, and life-long friendships are 
sometimes the result of pleasant, friendly, and genial manners among 
fellow-travellers. The habitual reserve of most people is senseless 
and cruel. 

All our conduct to our fellow-men should show our respect for 
them, our regard for their rights, our desire for their happiness. The 
first element of good manners is unselfishness. The moment a lady 
thinks too much of herself, her own rights, her own happiness, she 
begins to be rude to others. The more entirely she devotes herself 
to securing the comfort and happiness of all around her, the better 
will be her manners, and good manners are " twice blessed." As the 
principle of all good conduct in society is the love of the neighbor^ 
and an active philanthropy, so the element of all evil is egotism, sel- 
fishness, or the desire of one's own good and happiness, without 
regard to the rights and welfare of ofchers. Thus, manners must be 
based on morals^ and minor morals a\id major are really the saim^. 



I 



DEPORTMENT AND MANNERS. 456 

Haughty manners are the language of pride ; cold manners, of 
indifference to the comfort and happiness of others ; rude manners 
show a want of respect for the feelings of others ; scornful manners 
are a disregard of their rights ; cynical and hypocritical manners arc 
selfish and bad ; good manners are the expression of good feeling, 
grace, delicacy, and refinement, free from pride, selfishness, or vanity. 

A noble manner comes from a generous disposition — a heroic desire 
to sacrifice one's self for the good of others. Genuine politeness shows 
itself to the poor and humble. A true lady is specially kind to the 
aged, the infirm, the unattractive ; to those least likely to receive 
Attentions from people who are only seeking their own pleasure. 

Show a Sunny Disposition. 

Cheerfulness comes from health and hope. Animal spirits make us 
cheerful in the enjoyment of life and its sensations, but hope and 
charity give a spiritual cheerfulness, and even gayety of manner, 
which is very delightful. As far as possible, we should never show 
gloom or melancholy to those around us. If we carefully conceal 
what is unpleasant in our bodies, we should do no less with Oc-_ 
humors or dispositions. We should never let it be seen that we are 
angry, cross, peevish or low-spirited, where such mental states can 
give disquiet or pain to others. But the best way is never to be 
angry, cross, peevish, fretful or disagreeable. 

That one should feel a flush of anger at injustice or rudeness ; that 
one should be indignant at insult or outrage is natural ; but in most 
cases there should be no violent expression of anger and indignation. 
We must never forget ourselves and what is due to our own character 
and dignity. There should always be in our own feeling and expres- 
sion more of sorrow than of anger ; and we must be ready to forgive 
every injury, as we hope to be forgiven. 

A serene gayety, a courageous meeting of all the troubles and 
trials of life, is supremely good conduct and good manners. Calm- 
ness, patience, the firm possession of one's self, are great virtues, but 
triumphant serenity or joyousness is more, And it is an emphatic 



456 DEPORTMENT ANjj MANNERS. 

precept of religion : *' Rejoice always ; again I say rejoice." This is 
the triumph of the higher sentiments of faith and hope over the lower 
feelings of distrust, grief and anger. But a woman may train herself 
in good feeling and good conduct as readily as she can avoid being 
round- shojildcred. It wants but a resolute will to secure either bodily 
or spiritual uprightness. 

Idle and Thriftless Women. 

Every human being should do his part — whatever he is best able 
to do — in the work of life. An idle man or woman is a burden on 
industry, and generally worse than a burden. Certainly it is not 
polite to live on the labor of others without rendering some equivalent. 
Doubtless there are people who are ornaments to society, but has any 
one the right to be merely an ornament ? Can one fairly claim a 
living in the world who only amuses herself and does no good to 
others ? These are serious questions. 

If those who do the world's work, and provide all the necessaries of 
life, are content to feed, clothe and shelter persons who are merely 
ornamental — pretty to look at — it is their own affair, but it seems to 
us a point of honor that every one should do something for her daily 
bread, and not be willing to live upon the labor of others, without 
rendering some equivalent service. No one grudges pay for useful 
work, or for ornamental work, which is only anothe^ kind of use. 
We cheerfully pay the author of any book we care to read, or the 
painter of any picture v/e care to see, but we do not so cheerfully 
give a portion of our hard-earned money to support people in idle- 
ness who do us no good and give us no pleasure. 

We bear patiently what is, not seeing the way to mend it ; but if 
any of us were to go to work to organize a new society, should we 
find any place in it for people who live upon our industry and render 
no service in return ? But these are matters, you think, rather of 
morals and political economy than of manners. We are not sure 
of that. It must be bad manners to pick a man's pocket in any way, 
or to add to \h?- burden of labor, or the oppression of the poor. But 



DEPORTMENT AND MANNERS. 457 

there will be no question that to be disorderly in one's life, to be 
unpunctual, not to keep promises or fulfil engagements, or pay one's 
debts, is very bad manners. 

A lady should be orderly in the smallest matters, mindful of all 
promises, duties, and engagements ; always prompt, always punctual, 
never disappointing or vexing another by her neglect. A lady is one 
who can be depended upon to do what is right and just. Every 
engagement is sacred. You are sure that she speaks the truth. You 
know that she will keep her promise if it be possible. Her word is as 
good as her bond ; and she will do what she sees to be right in every 
case, whatever may be the law about it. Upright and downright, 
pure equity governs all her actions. You can trust her utterly. 

The Golden Rule. 

In all oui elations to others, and our intercourse with them, we 
should try to enter into their views and feelings, and see things from 
their standpoint. "Put yourself in her place." Treat a servant as 
you would wish a master or mistress to treat you. If you would 
have friefxds, be friendly. Be at your ease in simple self-possession, 
and put others at their ease by accommodating yourself as far as you 
can to their manners. If George IV. did pour his tea into his saucer 
when he was taking tea with some old ladies who followed that 
fashion, he showed that he had some claim to be called the first 
gentleman in Europe. A wise conformity in little things is far better 
than the assertion of an insolent superiority. A delicate regard for 
the feelings of others is the essence of politeness. 

With a person of thoroughly good manners we are always at our 
ease. If we speak, we are sure of being listened to with attention and 
sympathy. If we have a favor to ask, the way is made easy. If 
granted, it is done so graciously as to double its value ; if refused, it 
is so kindly done that we scarcely regret it, and feel sure that the 
refusal was prompted by the best motives. We meet such a person 
with pleasure, and part with real regret. A sunshine of genialty gives 
warmth and pleasantness to all about her. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 
The Social Queen. 

Qualifications for Good Society — Value of Birth and Breeding — Honor to Ladies- 
Mistress of the House — Introductions — Salutations — Rudeness to Others- 
Polite Attentions — The Sexes Should Go Together — Variety of Ages — Perfect 
Equality — The Industrious Woman — Agreea.ble Companions — ^Taste and Re< 
finement — Woman's Mission is to Adorn — Rules of Etiquette — Simplicity in 
Behavior — Little Observances — Receptions — Making Calls — Use of Cards- 
Taking Leave of the Host — Punctuality — '* Doing in Rome as Romans Do.'* 

SOCIETY is a word of large and various meaning. We talk of 
being in society — the interests of society — a good position in 
society — fashionable society — general society. It is properly 
the friendly meeting of people together to enjoy conversation and 
amusement with each other. To enjoy society, mutual protection, 
help, and to be amused with each other, men gather in villages and 
towns. Meeting often, they find the necessity of making themselves 
agreeable to each other. They refrain from offensive or injurious 
conduct, ana they find frequent occasions for mutual civilities and 
reciprocal good offices. 

To live pleasantly with each other, men must abandon, or at least 
conceal, selfishness, injustice, evil tempers, dishonesty, falsehood, and 
every mean and annoying disposition, and become, or at least appear 
to be, kind, friendly, disinterested, obliging, cheerful, honest, and 
honorable. Contact rounds off the rough edges of character, and 
gives polish to the manners. Politeness, civility, and urbanity mean 
the manners of people who are refined. 

In a large sense, every person is considered a member of society ; 
but we speak of a solitary person as one who goes into no society — 
meaning one who neither visits nor is visited. \ disreputable person 
is not admitted into society. A morose person shuns society. A 
person of loose habits and associations mingles in low society. 

Where a hereditary aristocracy rules, a man's social position de- 
458 



THE SOCIAL QUEEN. 459 

pends upon his ancestors. Of such men it has sometimes been said 
that the best part of them is under ground; but no one can deny the 
advantages of birth and breeding. Wealth gives the means and con- 
ditions of the highest culture. We have breeds of men as distinctly 
marked as our breeds of dogs and horses, and men are born with 
noble, heroic, and beautiful qualities as they are with unfortunate and 
base ones. 

We speak rightly of born liars and born thieves. There is, there<' 
fore, an aristocracy of birth, and to be well born is a great gooa 
fortune. But this kind of aristocracy is not always that of rank, title 
or wealth. The child of healthy, honest, educated and refined parents 
is well bom and a true aristocrat. 

Honor Paid to the True Lady. 

High society is composed of people of rank or wealth, who are able 
to live in a certain style of luxury and splendor; who can give elegant 
dinners and balls, and assemble around them people of taste and 
fashion. Good society is composed of good, friendly, intelligent, 
tasteful people, who can benefit, interest, and amuse each other. 

Everywhere in society ladies have precedence and honor. They 
are to have the first seats and the best seats. No gentleman can 
be seated while a lady stands. No gentleman can help himself to 
anything until ladies are helped. It is a principle of society that 
women are to be everywhere deferred to, protected, esteemed, and 
honored. More deference is shown to women, as women, in America 
than in any country in the world. 

Over all social festivities the lady of the house presides. She 
receives calls, gives invitations, welcomes the guests, sits at the head 
of the table, and is the social queen. The husband devotes himself 
to the ladies, and generally to the comfort of the guests. 

To enter a society to which one is a stranger, some introduction is 
required. Going to a strange district, one carries letters of introduc- 
tion. A man presents you to his friend, and vouches for your social 
position and ^ood cpnduct. He introduces you tP others. Th^ 



460 THE SOCIAL QUEEN. 

Texan gentleman had a very proper idea of the responsibnities of an 
introduction when he said : ** Mr. A., this is my friend, Mr. B. ; if he 
steals anything, I'm responsible." 

But such social endorsement, whether by word or letter, should not 
be lightly given. A man may not pick your pocket, but he may h^ 
a bore, and steal your time and patience. You do not wish to make 
tlie acquaintance of a man who will ever annoy or injure you — -one 
whom you cannot trust in every way. 

But there are cases in which no introductions are required. People 
thrown casually together, as at hotels, in watering-places, and gen- 
'irally in travelling, can always make modest advances towards such 
temporary acquaintance as the circumstances warrant. A satincal 
poet has represented two Englishmen cast away on a desert island, 
refusing to speak to each other because they had not been introduced. 
The more entirely a man is a gentleman, and the woman a lady, the 
more they are at their ease, and disposed to be kind, courteous an<f 
considerate of all around them. It is a quality of true nobility that 
it " condescends to men of low estate." 

When Introductions are Not Needed 

No introductions are needed between people invited to a dinner or 
tea party or assembly of any kind. The fact that two persons are the 
guests of a mutual acquaintance is an introduction to each other. 
You have a right to offer a civility, or the charm of your society, to 
any lady present. You can ask any one to dance. You can enter 
into conversations. 

A lady does not eat or drink without asking her neighbor to par- 
take. You never open and read a letter in company without the 
apology of asking permission. All fondlings and familiarities before 
company are improper. You have no right to do anything which 
any other person has not an equal right to do. The assertion, there- 
fore, of any exclusive right to the attentions of your husband, in the 
presence of others, is a gross indelicacy. Consequently, every appear- 
ance of this kind is carefully avoided. At table, husband and wife sit 



THE SOCIAL QUEEN. 161 

as far as possible from each other, and at bails husbands and wives are 
separated and take other partners. Society is the enlargement, the 
absorption, and, for the time being, the breaking up of all private and 
exclusive engagements. 

For a similar reason, tete-a-tetes, or the private conversation of two 
persons, exclusive and long continued, should be avoided. There are 
opportunities enough for private love-making, courtship, etc. If a 
gentleman wishes to see a lady alone, let him make a special visit for 
that purpose ; but in public, all talents, all charms, all the intelligence, 
and wit, and sentiment of conversation — all the g'"aces and accomplish- 
ments — are the property of all, or at least of the group of those who 
are attracted to each other by similarity and sympathy. 

The Sexes Should Not be Separated. 

As a rule, men and women should meet together in society. The 
influence of men upon each other, when left to themselves in clubs a 
at the dinner table, is not of a very refining character ; and women, 
when left to themselves, are said to indulge too freely in tittle-tattle 
and scandal. Each sex has a restraining and elevating influence upon 
the other. Society is, properly speaking, therefore, the mingling of 
both, and assemblages which are all male or all female are not society. 
And in a social assemblage, every group, when it is large enough to 
break into groups, should be composed of both sexes. 

In our own country, where experiments are more freely and boldly 
tried than in Europe, there are colleges where young people of both 
sexes are educated together — living in the same boarding houses, eat- 
ing at the same tables and reciting in the same classes — and the result 
has been admirable in its influence upon both. The young men have 
been made more manly, and the young women more womanly, by the 
influence of each sex upon the other. 

There should also be, we think, in all society, a considerable variety 
of ages. The model of a true society is a family of three genera- 
tions. The unnatural hours of fashionable assemblies make them 
unsuitable for children ; but we see r- reason why boys and girls of 



462 THE SOCIAL QUEEN. 

Ifteen, and all ages from that to a hundred or more, may not mingle 
in social gatherings. The very old enjoy the company of the very 
young. But, as no one should go into society who cannot in some 
way contribute to its enjoyments, the age at which one may be 
admitted must depend upon fitness in manners and acquirements. 

"When Social Distinctions are Proper. 

All persons in society are equal. In conversation and in amuse- 
ments all distinctions are laid aside. The sole exception to this is 
when a procession is formed from the drawing-room to the dinner- 
table, when the lady of the house takes the arm of the gentleman 
who is the most distinguished guest or greatest stranger, and the host 
offers his, next in order, to the most distinguished lady or greatest 
stranger, and then all march down in the order of their rank or social 
position. 

But, once returned to the drawing-room, all this is laid aside, and 
the only distinction is the power to please. A beautiful and accom- 
plished lady is queen ; the most elegant and interesting man is the 
centre of attraction. A brilliant commoner is better than a dull duke. 
By common consent, society lays aside artificial distinctions, and 
attends only to natural and acquired advantages, to character, genius 
and manners. 

What we want for the enjoyment of society is the inteUigence that 
qualifies us for conversation ; the wit that makes us entertaing ; the 
tact, delicacy and regard for the feelings of others which will preserve 
us from doing or saying anything which can hurt or offend them ; 
the amiability or kindness of disposition which will make us seek to 
render everybody about us happy, and the presence of mind, or pos- 
session of ourselves, which will allow us to say and do everything in 
the best manner. The more we can dismiss self, the less we have of 
self-consciousness, and the idea that everybody is concerned about us 
— the more we are occupied with everybody and everything but our- 
selves — ^the better for our social success. 

As women are the queens of society — as there can be no society. 



I 



THE SOCIAL QUEEN. 403 

properly speaking, without them — as they are its ont attraction and 
perpetual charm, everything depends upon their fitness for its duties 
ind requirements. A vulgar or silly woman, an awkward or ill-tem- 
>ered one, makes society with her impossible. Happily, such women 
are rare. Most women have the gifts of grace and amiability. They 
are the natural centres around which the best elements of social life 
spontaneously gather. And in spite of fashionable follies and frivol- 
ities, women every day become more brave, self-reliant, free, noble, 
and, in a word, womanly. Every day there is less oppression of the 
physically weaker, but morally stronger, sex — stronger by influence, 
if not by character. 

You Should have Useful Employments. 

There is nothing unwomanly or unladylike in every woman being 
fndustriously and usefully employed. Every woman ought to be 
able to make her own clothing, and the clothing of at least young 
children. Every woman ought to know how to cook, so as to pre- 
pare a good meal in case of need, and to teach and direct her servants. 
She should be able to do everything that makes a house comfortable 
and elegant. 

Once, every lady, the highest in the land, could make bread, and 
spin, and weave, as well as sew and embroider, and women have not 
gained in character, nor the country in prosperity, by the loss to 
women of nearly all kinds of domestic work, and removing so many 
useful and beautiful arts from the household to the factory. Women 
have lost many useful avocations, and are now crying out for others. 
Knitting, crochet, and fancy-work do not satisfy them. Dressing and 
making calls is not a business for life. Only a few have the gifts 
which qualify them to be artists and authors. 

The lack of sensible and useful employments drives women mto 
unladylike and immoral practices. They must do something. A 
young lady, full of health and animal spirits, cannot spend all her 
time in reading novels. She is driven to dissipation and flirtation. 
What she reads so much about she wishes to experience. She pre 



(64 THE SOCIAL QUEEN. 

■^rves her reputation, no doubt, but what becomes of her character ? 
And. in the absence of other interests, there comes to many young 
women the feverish desire for marriage and a settlement in life — a. 
Ihing which should never rest in her thoughts. It spoils the charm 
>f any woman to be always thinking of a possible husband. 

Making Matches and Hunting Husbands. 

Match-making mammas are bad enough — husband-hunting girls 
ire intolerable. They repel more than they attract. A woman is 
never so charming as in utter unconsciousness of charm — never so 
attractive as when she has no thought of attracting. In society, all 
possibilities of future relations should be kept out of sight, and every 
one treated according to his merits. Men and women in society do 
not meet as husbands and wives, or lovers — only as members of 
society, in unrestrained freedom to make themselves agreeable to 
each other. 

An evident flirtation with any one is a rudeness to all the rest of the 
company. Special attentions are in bad taste, and sure to offend. 
And when a lady feels that she has made the impression she most 
wished to make on a man she desired to attract and charm, because 
she felt his worth, though her heart may bound with happiness, she 
must no more show it than she can show the antioathies and disgusts 
excited by others. 

A true-hearted woman, with a fair amount of culture, a person not 
disagreeable, with some taste and observation of life, and a warm 
benevolence, and desire to please, can scarcely fail to make herself an 
agreeable and welcome guest in every circle. But a false, uncultured 
one, with no taste or care for pleasing, critical and censorious, jealous 
and malicious, is one of the worst samples of the feminine part of 
humanity. 

A lady of taste, refinement, and with so much of wealth and fashion 
as to give her a certain position in society, may become the centre of 
a circle, a social pivot, an educator, and in many ways a benefactor. 
Her furniture, the order of her apartments, her pictures and statuary, 



THE SOCIAL QUEEN. 465 

her own dress and ornaments, may be such as to give pleasure and 
improvement to every person who visits her. Why should not her 
boudoir or drawing-room be as nicely arranged, and as pretty a study 
in art, as any picture ? Is she not herself, in the possibilities of her 
air and manner, in pose and gesture, in dress and ornament, a work 
of art, as she may be much more in feeling and expression ? 

Her sphere is to cheer, to refine, to beautify, and bless. The oppor- 
tunities and influence she may thus acquire, she may turn to the 
noblest and holiest purposes. You make a call of ten minutes on 
such a woman, and she lives in your mind and heart a picture of 
beauty, grace, and charm for long years after. Her dress, her air, her 
5weet, engaging manner, the few well-chosen words of genial polite 
ness, the melody of her voice, the kind glances of her pure and tender 
eyes, the gentle pressure of her soft hand, all thrill in pleasant 
memories. 

Visiting Cards and What they Mean. 

The word etiquette means a ticket, and the ceremonies of special 
occasions were formerly written on cards or tickets, furnished to each 
person who took part in them. Such cards are still delivered, in some 
places, to the mourners at funerals, and we have bills of fare at 
dinners, the order of dancing at balls, and programmes at entertain- 
ments. So cards of invitation tell us that there is to be dancing, and 
cards of admission sometimes specify what dress is to be worn. 
Thus, evening dress is required on various occasions. 

Chambers's Encyclopaedia, says : ** Popular publications are con- 
itantly issuing from the press for the purpose of teaching etiquette, or 
the rules of behavior in good society. They will, for the most part, 
be found far less trustworthy than the promptings of nature, where 
the individual possesses a reasonable amount of reverence for others, 
and respect for himself. Yet there are certain conventionalities which 
can only be learned by instruction of some kind, or by observation, 
and the observation may be attended by unpleasant circumstances." 

It is quite true that all our manners and observances are, or should 
be, founded on a common sense of propriety, of the duty we owe to 
30 



466 THE SOCIAL QUEEN. 

others, and a proper regard for the comfort and happiness of all 
around us. The best and cleverest people behave to others in certain 
ways, and we observe, admire and imitate them. There are fashions 
of manners as of dress, but they are much less changeable. In the 
East, every act of one's life has been reduced to rule and system, and 
the etiquette of China and Japan has lasted, with little change, for 
ages. Every one learns all that will ever be required of him in his 
conduct to superiors, equals, and inferiors, and in every relation of life. 
In the West we are left more free, and there is more individualit)^ 
and originality ; but with them we have also more that is disorderly 
and offensive. It is one of the great discomforts of social life not to 
k:5iow what is the right thing to do, what is expected of you, and how 
you can make yourself agreeable, or, at least, not disagreeable to those 
around you. We feel " at home " wherever we know how to conduct 
ourselves. Bashfulness, timidity, awkwardness, and all the confusion 
and suffering that they cause, come from not knowing how to behave 

Well Versed in Etiquette. 

The moment we know what we ought to say and do, everything is 
easy and delightful. A sensitive mind fears nothing so much as being 
blundering and ridiculous. There are few of us who are quite free of 
some dread of ** Mrs. Grundy." 

Education in etiquette begins very early. The mother trains the 
child from its earliest years — the child imitates its parents. Children 
are continually warned that this is not nice, and that that is not proper. 
A child brought up by and among well-behaved people, can hardly 
go amiss unless from natural perversity. 

The misfortune is, that nurses, servants and even teachers, in many 
cases, have no aptitude for good manners or no instruction. If 
servants were selected for their good manners — if they were required 
among the qualifications of teachers — the demand would create the 
supply. Observation and imitation would be stimulated if good 
manners were the condition of success in life. 

But there is wanting, first of all, the desire, and then the perception. 



1 



THE SOCIAL QUEEN. 4^7 

of deferent and refined behavior, and of its two elements, self-respect, 
and respect for others — true self-love and the love of the neighbor. 
The stolid indifference to all decent manners we see about us, comes 
from a want of sense of their importance, much more, we believe, than 
from a brutal disregard of what is right. When men stand upon the 
sidewalk, so as to oblige women to step into the gutter to get past 
them, it is charitable to think they are muddled with beer. When 
people crowd and crush you, and make mad rushes to get the best 
positions, violating every principle of decent manners, it seems like 
innate depravity — but it is, perhaps, only a bad habit which they have 
thoughtlessly drifted into. 

And this exhibition of brutal selfishness is not confined to the lower 
ranks of life. The crowding and confusion are sometimes as great in 
the palace of the sovereign as at the pit entrance of a theatre. When 
George IV. left Carleton House the fashionable world was admitted to 
see its splendors. The result was a crowd in which ladies were 
crushed, trampled upon, and in some cases their clothes entirely torn 
from their bruised bodies. Such manners are what we might expect 
in a horde of savages. Surely they are not such as we look for 
among an enlightened and Christian people. 

Little Observances are Important. 

The lil-de observances of social life are more important than many 
people think them. The outward signs or expressions of any senti- 
ment not only manifest it to others, but help to keep it active in our- 
selves. This is the use of all ceremony and ritualism in religion. We 
strengthen our own reverence by external expressions, and help to 
excite it in others. A great assembly kneeling with bowed heads in 
prayer, or uniting in songs of fervent praise, is very impressive. And 
the same principle governs all social ceremonies and observances. 

Salutations are social ceremonies. A gentleman raises his hat as a 
mark of respect ; he touches it to intimates ; he takes it off to ladies, 
and when he stops to speak to them, or to persons to whom he wishes 
to show a marked deference, he does not put it on till requested to do 



468 rHE SOCIAL QUEEN. 

so. The hat is touched or raised with the hand farthest Irom the 
person saluted. 

We do not salute a friend who is engaged with a lady or a person 
superior in rank whom we do not know ; but we join a friend in 
returning the salutation of a stranger to ourself It is the right of a 
lady to recognize an acquaintance, or not, at her pleasure ; and unless 
very intimate, a gentleman waits for such recognition. So of stopping 
for conversation. If we wish to converse more than a few moments, 
it is better to turn and walk with the one we meet. But a lady or 
superior must give the invitation. In passing persons frequently, you 
are not to salute QYQry time. Once is sufficient. 

Etiquette of the Parlor. 

Visitors — if strangers — we meet according to rank, position, or 
intimacy. A gentleman meets a lady at the front door, and accom- 
panies her to the sidewalk, or puts her into the carriage, at her 
departure ; and the same with any person to whom he wishes to show 
particular consideration. 

A lady receives in her drawnig-room, and does not leave it for 
gentlemen unless age or position call for special deference. Ladies 
treat ladies as gentlemen do each other. The visitor salutes her 
hostess first and last. The manner in which we salute all persons 
should express the respect and kindness we feel for them, or ought to 
feel, and which they ought to merit. 

By treating every one with courtesy we in fact demand of them the 
character and manners which merit our respect. We, in this way, put 
all on their good behavior. A polite lady is thus not only a teacher 
of politeness, but a practical reformer of manners and morals. 

The place of honor in a room is the farthest from the entrance — ^at 
a fireside, the corners ; at table, the right of the hostess and host. 

Introductions are a convenient mode of making people acquainted 
with each other. The one who introduces becomes responsible for 
the good behavior of both. No one ought to introduce to another 
a man who will insult or swindle, annoy or injure him. There are 



THE SOCIAL QUEEN. 469 

special introductions only for particular objects. At a ball, a gentle- 
man is introduced to a lady simply as her partner for a dance. She 
is not required to recognize him again. 

In merely formal introductions people bow to each other, but do 
not shake hands. Hand-shaking should be the sign of a friendly 
intimacy. When a lady gives her hand to a gentleman, it should 
mean that she accepts his friendship. The Americans shake hands 
'ever^^where and with everybody. There is abundant hand-shaking 
among the Germans. The English and French are more properly 
reticent. It is for the person to whom one is introduced to offer or 
withhold the hand. 

As a rule, introductions should not be given except at the request 
or with the permission expressed or understood of the persons intro- 
duced ; but intimate friends of both parties may presume upon its 
being desirable and agreeable. The inferior in age or position is 
always introduced to the superior, and gentlemen to ladies, unless 
there is a marked difference in rank or age ; but when equals are 
introduced the form is repeated, and so each introduced to the other 

Letters of Introduction. 

A letter of introduction should be brief and confined to the macter 
in hand, and given unsealed to the bearer. If given for any purpose 
of business, you can call and send it in with your card. Otherwise, 
send it with your card, and wait to have it acknowledged. If the 
letter is addressed to a lady, however, you must call, send it in, and, 
of course, give her time to read it. 

Calls are very brief visits made in the morning, but the fashionable 
morning is any time before dinner. Morning calls should, however, 
never be made till sometime after lunch — say three o'clock, nor later 
than five ; since people dine at from six to eight o'clock, and must 
have time to dress. Usually no call should last more than fifteen 
minutes, and when other visitors arrive, it may be shorter. 

As there is no obligation to see people, ladies who do not wish tn 
seem rude tell their servants to say " not at home " to those the)' 



470 THE SOCIAL QUEEN. 

decline to see. They may be indisposed or engaged, but " not at 
home " is a formula which covers the whole ground, and is not to be 
taken literally. It may mean not " at home " to you on this occa- 
sion ; and to most callers it is a welcome announcement. They leave 
a card, which answers every purpose of a merely formal visit. 

Even this matter might be simplified. In a certain German town it 
was once the custom for everybody to call upon all his acquaintances 
on New Year's. As the town grew this became such a burden tc 
callers and entertainers that they got to sending cards instead, 
which set all the servants in the town to running their feet off. 
Finally, the servants took all the cards to a central place, where they 
Avere sorted over, and each one carried home those intended for his 
family, which is the present excellent time-and- labor-saving custom. 

Receptions and Refreshments. 

A call or the card, its equivalent, must be returned within a week ; 
and every entertainment, dinner, ball, to which you are invited, must 
be responded to by a call, if you desire another invitation. When 
about to be absent for some time, it is expected that you will make a 
farewell visit to your acquaintances. If you do not see them, leave 
your card with P. P. C. upon it — ''Potir prendre conge " (to take 
leave). On your return, you are entitled to receive the first visit. 

Receptions are admirable inventions for economy and enjoyment. 
Instead of spending time in calls, or money in dinners, parties, balls, 
etc., a lady sends a card to all her friends to inform them that she is 
" at home " on some evening once a week. If she manage her cards 
well, she may gather around her a delightful society. She has only 
to offer her visitors a cup of tea or coffee when they arrive, and a bit 
of cake or a sandwich later. No formal supper is expected. There 
is conversation and music. ' 

The more really at home the hostess is, the better for her visitors, 
who come early or late, and stay as short a time or as long as they 
like. It is obvious that there can be only here and there one who can 
have such evenings ; and no lady can expect to fill her roc ms week 



THE SOCIAL QUEEN. 471 

after week unless she has the tact to draw to her agreeable people, 
and, what is far more difficult, to order, regulate, and govern her 
guests, and banish bores, disagreeables, and incompatibles "rom her 
society. 

At these receptions the less formality the better. Every one is 
introduced already by the fact of his admission. If you know the 
lady hostess you know all her guests, and you can in no way please 
her so much as by making yourself agreeable to any and all of them 
and especially to any who are, or seem liable to be, neglected. As c:t 
entrance you go and pay your respects to the lady of the house, so at 
your departure you very quietly take your leave of her at last, after 
having said a private good-bye to any others, and so vanish without 

disturbance. 

Punctuality Must be Observed. 

In all cases where there is a set time of beginning, the highest 
etiquette is perfect punctuality. No one can dine until the last guest 
arrives. To keep people waiting, to make a dinner spoil, is more than 
an impoliteness — it is an outrage. So, at a theatre or concert, be in 
your place before the curtain rises, so as not to disturb the enjoyment 
of others; and never be so rude as to leave just before the play or 
concert ends. Leave at the end of the last act or piece of music but 
one, if you please ; but to disturb an audience by going out at the 
very climax of interest is a very selfish piece of ill manners. 

But in almost all cases ill manners is some display of selfishness. 
Good manners consist in a consideration for the feelings and rights 
of others. What right have you to mar the enjoyment of music or a 
play by conversation ? What right to stand up before people who are 
trying to see some spectacle ? Every way in which you consult your 
own gratification at the expense of others is unmannerly and unjust. 
An honest man does what is right or equitable ; a polite or courteous 
man goes always beyond this line, and high breeding is philanthropy. 

No man of gallantry would allow a lady to wait for him one 
moment; and simple honesty requires that every one should be 
punctual in keeping engagements. To make sure, one should be a 



472 THE SOCIAL QUEEN. 

few minutes before the time, at all events not an instant after. Ano 
let us advise punctuality in going as well as in coming, and especially 
celerity in taking leave. If parting be a pain, do not make it weari- 
some as well. If we "speed the parting guest," she should say good- 
bye, and go at once. It is not necessary to be rudely abrupt, but in 
saying good-bye, the sooner it is over the better for all concerned. 
Suspense is painful to the parties, and tiresome to spectators. 

As a general rule, we do well to conform to the customs of the 
place or country we are in, showing thereby our friendly respect to 
the people we are among. If we visit a church, we should behave as 
nearly as possible like those who worship in it. If we cannot cons- 
cientiously do this, we had better keep away. So a republican, visiting 
a monarchical country, should be careful to pay the customary respect 
to royalty, and to conform generally to social usages. The hrst 
Christian Missionaries to China found their way to the hearts of the 
people by adopting their dress, learning their code of etiquette, an(/ 
conforming, as far as possible, to their customs. 

The way to learn all one needs to know of the etiquette and man 
ners of any society is to be quiet, self-possessed, and observant 
Notice what well-bred and easy-mannered persons do, and folio*, 
their example. Never be ashamed of not knowing anything, but 
take the first opportunity to ask some one what you wish to know 
and cannot find out for yourself. A request for information is always 
flattering. Every one is naturally pleased to show her superiority. 
Every one is happy to give information to another, and guide her in 
the ways he should go. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 
The Art of Conversing Well. 

Value of Good Talk — Conversation of Animals — All Can Have Something to Say 
—The Good Listener — Guiding the Conversation — Regard to Rights and 
Opinions of Others — Making Others Talk — Topics that are of Mutual Interest 
— Wit and Humor— Anecdotes — Talk at Table — Sense and Knowledge — Prosy 
People — Hobbies — Slang — Egotism and Boasting — Pet Phrases — Long-winded 
Talkers — Impolite Questions — Giving Attention — Avoiding Discussions — Pay- 
ing Compliments — Moral Character. 

'' /^OOD TALK," says the author of Realmah, "is ever one of 
\J the choicest things in the world, and wins all people who 
come within its sphere." Our social life is chiefly conversa- 
tion—a turning together — -the interchange of thought and feeling. 

It is probable that all animals which associate with each other have 
language and conversation — some method of communicating informa- 
tion and expressing feeling. Ants and bees evidently talk with each 
other. When a prize is at hand, or danger threatens, the whole 
swarm is quickly told of it. They act in concert. They carry on 
complicated operations quite impossible without some power of con- 
versation. The hen clucking to her brood calls them to the food she 
lias discovered, gathers them under her wings, or gives warning of 
danger when she sees a hawk hovering in the sky. 

In a morning of spring, when the groves are full of melody, it must 
be that the melody has meaning, and that every phrase is understood, 
at least by birds of the same species. The lowing and bleating herds 
must also talk to each other. Dogs talk together, and learn to 
understand us much better than we do them. The elephant has a 
very human comprehension of the orders of his keeper ; and elephants 
who live in societies hold converse with each other. 

" Steed threatens steed in high and boastful neighings. '* 
The conversation of anhnals is natural or instinctive. If men evec 
bad such a natural language, it has been lost. Instead of it we have 

473 



474 THE ART OF CONVERSING WELL. 

hundreds of dialects made up of artificial, conventional, articulate 
sounds. What we have of instinctive language consists in gestures 
grimaces, tones, modulations, inflexions, emphasis. Whatever lan^ 
guage men speak, we know by sight and hearing whether they arr 
pleased or vexed — whether they hate or love. 

Our conversation is, therefore, partly natural or instinctive in tones 
gestures, and expressions of the countenance, laughter, tears, and all 
the picturesqueness and melody of speech ; and partly artificial and 
conventional in the use of words, or articulate sounds, whose meaning 
has been agreed upon. The beauty of all conversation consists in the 
choice admixture of these two elements of language. We like to see 
those with whom we converse. The glances of the eye, the flushings 
of the cheek, the smiles or frowns, and all expressions of feeling on 
the mobile face, the motions of the head, the slight shrugs of the 
shoulders tell as much as, often far more than, the spoken words. 

Good Talkers and Readers. 

Then how much more expressive is speech than writing. The 
written word has one meaning — the spoken word may have a dozen. 
We vary it with every mode of utterance. Written language, how- 
ever carefully taken down, may give but the faintest idea of the elo- 
quence, or even the meaning of a speaker. Thus no reporter can do 
justice to some orators, who have produced the strongest impression 
upon multitudes of hearers ; people delight us with the warmth, grace 
and vivacity of their conversation, whose words, if accurately written 
down, would seem tame and insipid. The life that goes with the 
speech is wanting. In reading, words have what we are able to put 
into them. Good readers are those who can express the sense and 
sentiment of a writer as he would wish to express them in speech. 

As we all talk more or less ; as conversation is the life, the nervous 
circulation of the social body, we should try to talk well. To do this 
we must have intelligence, knowledge, facts of interest, things and 
thoughts, ideas and sentiments, which others may wish to hear ; and 
we must be able to convey our ideas in a clear and pleasant manner. 



THE ART OF CONVERSING WELL. 475 

Every one can bring something to the common stock of conversa- 
tion — the commerce of knowledge and thought, where all freely 
receive and freely give. The preacher is paid for his sermons, the 
lawyer for his opinions, the doctor for his prescriptions, the author for 
his writings, but conversation is generous and free. It asks only 
reception and appreciation. Those who have are eager to bestow 
their treasures, and good listeners are as necessary as good talkers, 
and required in much larger proportions, for to every talker there 
ought to be ten listeners. 

When companies divide into couples, and a large room is full of 
the hum of private discussions, it can scarcely be called conversation. 
A large party must break into groups, but not into couples. When 
people know how to listen as well as to talk, the larger the group the 
more life and variety to the conversation. We doubt if two persons 
can properly occupy themselves in conversation without an apology 
to the rest of the company. 

Guiding the Conversation. 

It is well that every group should have its leader or centre ; not 
always the one who talks most or best, but the one who listens, 
manages, suggests and draws out or gives opportunites to others. A 
lady of tact and intelligence does the best. She guides conversation 
as the coxswain steers the boat, or the four-in-hand driver manages 
his team, checking the restive, touching up the dull, and keeping all 
in order and up to their work. A lady who can do this, not only for 
a single group, but for a drawing-room full of guests, arranging com- 
patibilities, and seeing that all are having the best enjoyment of these 
opportunities, is fit to be a hostess and social queen. 

If the first qualification for conversation is to know how to speak, 
it is, in some ways, a more important one to know how to listen. Wc 
draw out, encourage, excite and elevate by our manner of receiving 
and accepting what one says. The orator gets life, suggestion and 
support from his audience. He is borne up by the waves of thei*' 
appreciation. Good listeners make good talkers. 



476 THE ART OF CONVERSING WELL. 

A good listener never interrupts, unless very adroitly v^ith a ques- 
tion or objection, which is also a suggestion and help to tke speaker 
A good listener is patient and courteous, and does his best to give 
every one his full opportunity. He does not necessarily agree with 
what is said. The free expression of difference of opinion is the life of 
conversation ; but a courteous, and even friendly toleration is its 
necessity. There is a limit to the proper expression of felling in 
conversation ; and dissent may be very decided, without being violent 
or disrespectful. 

Let People Speak Freely. 

We must have the same regard to the rights of others in conversa- 
tion that we ought to have in business. Let every fact have its place, 
^nd every argument its weight. To interrupt, overbear, crush with 
5:lamor, silence with assumption, are violations of equity, as well as 
politeness. We may discuss freely, but never dispute ; we may fairly 
controvert, but we have no right to denounce. And we can never 
mpute bad motives to persons who hold opinions contrary to our 
^wn. A man may be wrong in his facts, absurd in his logic, and hi.«^ 
ioctrines may be ever so distasteful, or even dangerous, but he mast 
be treated with kindness and civility, and his motives judged of with 
charity. 

It is better, perhaps, that subjects which excite strong emotions, 
and are liable to produce partisan conflicts, should not be made sub- 
jects of conversation in general society. In a country where there 
are so many religious sects and opmions, giving rise to violent ani- 
mosities, it may be well to banish religious discussions entirely ; but 
when newspapers, pamphlets, books, treating of such subjects, are 
read by almost every one, it is very difficult to keep them out of 
general conversation ; and conversation is, as it must be, more polite 
than writing. 

^o be a good listener, then, we must be very tolerant — not of error 
itself, but of its expression; not of the fault, but of the individual who 
is fa\ilty. As one may detest the sin, and yet love the sinner, so one 
may reprobate what he esteems a false opinion with entire calmness 



THE ART OF CONVERSING WELL. 47? 

and unfailing courtesy. To be a good listener, we must be entirely 
self-possessed, '' swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath." It is 
polite to listen ; it is often a real charity. We gain more esteem by 
what we hear than by what we say. Perhaps the highest art in 
conversation is to make others talk. The man who hears you may 
be bored ; the man who talks to you never is. He may be dissatis- 
fied with your views ; he is sure to be pleased with his own. 

How to Escape a Bore. 

And if a man is tiresome, or becomes so by talking too much, the 
best way to escape is by a compliment. Thank him for the pleasure 
he has given, and do not deprive others of the benefit of listening to 
his instructive remarks. We are not to be insincere ; for everybody 
is instructive, though too much of some kinds of instruction may 
become monotonous. But a man of tact will be able at any time 
to give a new turn to conversation, and adroitly throw it into the 
hands of a more entertaining colloquist. 

Every one who goes into society — that is, who meets n's Icllowmen 
anywhere where conversation is possible — should know how vo talk. 
We have written of speech as an accomplishment. We should speak 
loud enough to be heard, but not loud enough to stun those who are 
near us. Boisterousness is a sort of insolence. But we should speak 
with perfect distinctness, so as never to be obliged to repeat a sentence. 
An even flow of speech is a great comfort to the hearers. It is a pain 
to listen to people who speak painfully, and find it difficult to get out 
their words. Speech should be easy, simple, graceful, and, if possible, 
picturesque, animated, and melodious. There is no music like beau- 
tiful speech. 

But the matter of speech must be as choice as the manner is good. 
When we have said good-morning, and made our congratulations or 
condolences on the state of the weather, and inquired about the health 
and conditions of mutual acquaintances, there is still something to be 
said. The world is full of interesting things, near or remote. 
Generally the near things are the most interesing. A burglary in the 



478 THE ART OF CONVERSING WELL. 

same street is more to us than the destruction of a city in another 
hemisphere. 

We cannot compel people to take an interest in the things that we 
consider most important. We must take the topics that are current 
at the time. If a great war is raging, it absorbs all interest. So a 
trial at law may fill newspapers and conversation. Some political 
movement, or some social scandal may be the topic of the time. We 
iiust do our best with the materials at hand ; and what we need is a 
point of departure. When the conven ation is begun, no one can quite 
tell what course it will take. 

Don't Do All the Talking. 

In talk there must be no monopoly. No one person ought ever to 
speak more than two or three minutes. Anecdotes or stories can only 
be used for illustration, and the most interesting one should not last 
five minutes. Give lectures, or go to lectures if you will, but there 
must be no lectures in conversation. Every person who wishes to 
speak must have the opportunity to do so just as much as to eat and 
drink ; and when a man has had his say on any subject he cannot do 
better than to turn to some silent, but interested person — one of 
another sex, if convenient — and see what new contribution can be 
made to the common stock. 

And almost every conversation is the better if seasoned with wit 
and enlivened with gayety. Humor is a gift, like poetry or music. 
Fun bursts out like fire. Wit is different. Sorne are quick-witted, 
and are always ready with some pertinent or impertinent remark, but 
others think out their retorts, as Byron did, and only come to them 
next day. Such people do well to think over all probable matters of 
conversation, and have their impromptus ready. But why should not 
a lady who is giving a party have her good things laid out with her 
clean linen, and all her jokes, and puns, and repartees in readiness, as 
one packs a hamper for a picnic ? 

With a full mind and a good memory, no one can be at fault. The 
good memory supposes order and self-possession. But all conversa- 



THE ART OF CONVERSING WELL. 479 

tion should seem to be spontaneous, and prompted by the occasion. 
Story-tellers should have good memories, not only for the details of 
their anecdotes, but to avoid telling them too often in the same com- 
pany. The same story should not be told more than twice, unless 
urgently demanded. 

The specially social quality is good nature, amiability, the desire to 
please, the kindness of heart that avoids giving offense, and cannot 
bear to hurt any one's feelings. A good-natured person may frankly 
disagree with you, but he never offends. He quarrels good naturedly. 
He boxes with gloves on — when he fences ever so deftly, there is a 
great soft button on the end of his foil. He may satirize, ridicule, 
open up all your weakness and absurdities, but so kindly that you can- 
not help loving him. He cannot say a harsh, hard, bitter, or 
contemptuous thing, because he has no hardness and no contempt. 

Avoid Every Approach to Vulgarity. 

This is siirple, natural goodness, like the goodness of fond and 
friendly animals. It may not be a high moral virtue; there is no 
particular merit in it any more than in beauty or any natural gift, but 
it is a very delightful quality, and those who do not possess it should 
imitate those who do. Just as we avoid in person, dress, or manners, 
anything that may gii"5 disgust or pain, so must we do in our conver- 
sation. We must no more use vulgar expressions than we would 
wear vulgar garments. Our talk should be as clean as our fingers. 
We should no more bite one with our words than with our teeth. 
An angry word is as bad as a blow, and a satirical word is like a sting. 

If we are never to say anythii;ig to a person which will give him 
disgust or pain, we must be even more careful not to say anything of 
any one which will injure him in the estimation of others. Playful, 
good-natured criticism upon the little foibles and peculiarities of others, 
may be no harm, and even useful, but it ceases to be good-natured 
when it gives pain. Slander is a sin much worse than theft. Charity 
forbids that we should even tell the truth, when that truth can wound 
and injure. The best rule is to say all the good we can of every one, 



480 THE ART OF CONVERSING WELL. 

and to refrain from ever saying evil, unless it becomes a clear mattet* 
of duty to warn some one against him. 

At table, every subject must be such as will not interfere with 
appetite and digestion. The conversation should be light, so as not 
to tax the brain when the life-forces are gathered to the stomach. It 
should be cheerful, which is another name for convivial. It is better 
not to talk of food, because if people speak of their likings, they may 
also speak of their dislikes, and what one is fond of may disgust another. 
There should never be mentioned at table any subject of possible 
disgMSt. 

bubjects Not to be Mentioned. 

Some say one should never mention at table anything which might 
not properly be placed upon it. Consequently, one should never 
mention disease, or medicine, or anything connected with either. If 
one speaks of a voyage, he must omit the interesting fact of his having 
been seasick. At all well-regulated water-cure establishments there 
is an absolute rule against the mention of disease or treatment. There 
may be no harm in saying, ''I had a glorious douche this mx)ming; " 
but the discussion that might arise is to be avoided. Generally, noth- 
ing must ever be said at table which could, directly or indirectly, 
excite disgust. No more must there be said anything to excite anger. 
This is, of course, the rule in all conversation ; but it is especially 
dangerous to get angry over one's dinner. Perfect good nature, and 
a certain degree of hilarity, befit every feast. People who are serious 
and thoughtful at table, are liable to become dyspeptics. The con- 
versation should, therefore, be easy, playful, and mirthful. Party 
politics and sectarian religion may, therefore, as well be postponed. 

In England, ladies leave the table soon after the dessert is served, 
and the gentlemen draw closer for wine and talk. A few years ago 
they drank much more wine than was good for them, and much Oi 
their conversation was quite unfit for ladies to hear. In our better 
days, no gentleman dares to reel back to the drawing-room ; and the 
conversation of gentlemen is never indecent. Under these reformed 
conditions, why should the ladies leave the table at all, until all can 



THE ART OF CONVERSING WELL. 4^1 

go together, as they came ? There is no reason, but that Englishmen 
cling to all the old customs, however unreasonable. If a thing has 
been done once, the precedent is established, and it must be done 
forever. But nothing can be done the first time, because it is 
unprecedented. 

In France and America, ladies and gentlemen leave the table together. 
We have books of the table-talk of famous talkers from Martin Luther 
to Sidney Smith, one of the most genial and benevolent as well as 
wittiest of colloquists ; still, the dinner-table is not the place for intel- 
lectual conversation. The tea-table suits it better. The reception 
and the conversazio7ie ^ where the refreshment of the body is quite a 
secondary matter, are places for real conversation. Morning parties 
on the hills, in forests, on shaded lawns, where well-assorted groups 
can read and talk, are perhaps best of all. 

Common Sense and Information. 

To talk well, we must have both sense and knowledge ; but one 
who has sense must have knowledge also. The experience and 
i)bservation of every one's life is an education. He who knows him- 
self knows the most of what is worth knowing ; and all knowledge 
consists in self-knowledge, and the knowledge of our relations to the 
world around us. Common sense, or the sense of things common to 
human beings, our thoughts and feelings, and the matter of our lives, 
is the best sense we can have, and what helps us most in conve**sation. 

We do not usually talk about the sciences. How seldom are geol- 
ogy or astronomy mentioned in conversation. Chemistry is less dis- 
cussed than cookery. Men do not talk much of geography or geom- 
etry. History and biography come nearer to us, and still nearer 
politics and commerce, literature and art — that is, the newest novels, 
and poems and pictures, or the songs of the season, are conversational 
topics in the best society. One must read the current literature, and 
know what is going on in the world ; but the best of all knowledge 
for conversation is the knowledge of men, women and life. 

And of all talents none is so useful as sympathy. When we feel 
31 



482 THE ART OF CONVERSING WELL. 

with and for our fellows, and can enter into the thoughts and feeilngs 
of every one we meet, rejoicing in their joys, sharing in their sorrows, 
ready with comfort and help, then our conversation is a delight. We 
win all hearts by sympathy more than by all gifts and accomplish- 
ments. The sympathetic attract ; the cold and heartless repel. We 
admire beauty, elegance, wit, eloquence ; but we love geniality, friend- 
liness, goodness. 

It is not necessary that these qualities should be expressed in 
words. Professions of benevolence, or of any virtue, are repulsive. 
All egotism is selfishness, and selfishness is the quality directly 
opposed to benevolence. We can show our love of virtue by prac- 
ticing it, and recognizing and praising it in others. 

Adapt Yourself to Others. 

Our sympathy comes out in a thousand ways, and it is seen and 
felt by those who need it. It beams in the face of a kind-hearted 
man or woman, and reveals itself in the tones of the voice, and every 
mode of expression. Sympathy especially shows itself in the power 
of adapting ourselves to others — of becoming all things to all men, 
that we may do them good. 

There are some faults we must carefully avoid in conversation — 
faults of character and faults of manner. It is not only our right, 
but it is our duty, to conceal our faults. If we have bad feelings we 
must suppress the expression of them. If I am angry, must I vent 
my rage ? So if I feel emotions of pride or vanity, am I to strengthen 
them by giving them expression in words or actions ? Certainly not. 
Every one in the company of others is on his good behavior. People 
who snap and snarl at home are polite enough abroad ; and the more 
they are under such restraint, the better. Society civilizes. The more 
we bring people together the more we improve their manners ; 
manners become habits ; habits mould hearts. 

The lady who boasts becomes ridiculous. Modesty is a virtue 
highly appreciated by everybody's self-esteem. If I vaunt myself, 
my family, my property, my deeds, and make myself or any of my 



fHE ART OF CONVERSING WELL. 483 

belongings the subject of conversation, I offend more or less all who 
listen to me. It is distasteful to the meek, and offensive to the 
haughty. It is only in droll, bantering ways that people can speak of 
themselves, and the less they do so in any way, the better. A lady 
may, of course, tell her own story, simply and frankly, without con- 
sciousness of merit or affectation of modesty. She may relate things 
of herself very much to her credit, if their is no vainglorying. 

Pass by Yourself. 

^ man can talk best of what he knows most about, but there is 
egotism and a temptation to some sort of vainglory when a man 
speaks much of his own profession or employment. We must talk of 
what interests others rather than ourselves, and in any case consult 
the tastes and enjoyments of others — the greatest good of the greatest 
number. There is a proverbial prohibition against ''talking shop.'' 
The clergyman is not to wear his surplice and the lawyer is not to 
carry his green bag. The doctor who has spent the morning in consul- 
tations should be glad to rest from patients and diseases. Society is 
for recreation ; so every one can leave his work, and give play to 
faculties which need exercise. Still, when questions arise in con- 
versation it is natural to appeal to those who have special knowledge. 

It is best in all conversation to avoid technicalities not generally 
understood. As we modulate our voices so as to reach the most 
distant person in the group, so we should adapt our language to the 
comprehension of the most ignorant. The skilful orator is careful 
not to speak over the heads of his hearers when he wishes to " con- 
vince, and reserves any high flight for the corruscations of his perora- 
tion. In conversation such displays are out of place. We talk to 
instruct and amuse ; and amusement should be the vehicle of instruction. 

Slang, doubtless, cannot be entirely banished ; but it should be 
used very sparingly, and only the newest and best. Very nice slang 
becames incorporated into the language. Poor slang has its day, 
and is thrown aside like last year's fashions. Most slang quickly 
becomes vulgar. One day some clever or fashionable person, econom- 



484 THE ART OF CONVERSING WELL. 

ical of breath, said *' thanks " instead of " I thank you." Many- 
followed his example, but when the shop-boys began to pelt him with 
" thanks " he returned at once to be more elaborate expression. 
There was a time when the most opposite things were ** awfully 
nice," but the alarming phrase went out with crinoline or chignons. 
There is a slang dictionary which it might be well to look over so as 
to see what to avoid. 

A Dead Sea of Commonplaces. 

Pet phrases and hackneyed commonplaces of expression destroy 
originality. The talk of many persons is entirely made up of these 
threadbare formularies. Many sermons are a patchwork of them ; 
and we hear speeches of men of celebrity which consist almost 
entirely of conventional phrases. All this we should carefully avoid. 
Life is too short to spend in that way. The man who must talk 
twenty minutes when he has really nothing, or next to nothing, to say 
may be excused for padding out with a mess of verbiage. But in 
conversation the more we condense, the quicker we hit the nail on the 
head, the better. Diffuseness bores. A dozen persons are eager to 
express an opinion, or launch a witticism, and you pointlessly prose 
away for fifteen minutes. Only persons of very high position can be 
tiresome with impunity. 

The stage gives us models for conversation. There are no long 
speeches or stories. No dramatist dares make an actor speak unin- 
terruptedly for five minutes. Even the set orations in Shakespeare 
are delightfully short and to the purpose. No audience will hear a 
long, dull story badly told. Everywhere there must be fire, spirit, 
animation, deep earnestness, or lively fun, something to interest or 
amuse, to excite our sympathy or provoke our mirth. 

A social party is an improvised comedy in which every actor 
should play his part as well, at least, as if he were on the stage with 
pay and plaudits. The actor, it is true, has his part written for him, 
studies it carefully, and practices with frequent rehearsals ; but in our 
social life each has his part, with all his lifetime to make it perfect; 



THE ART OF CONVERSING WELL. 485 

with constant rehearsal, and daily improvement in thought, expression, 
and action. Surely this work in earnest is better than any make- 
believe. 

What we need for the conversation of social life is a good heart, a 
full mind, an earnest desire to please, the tact and delicacy never to 
offend, the motives of a Christian, and the manners of a gentleman 
or lady. 

If you have read much and remember what you have read; if you 
heve travelled much, and can describe well what you have seen and 
heard ; if you have seen much of the world, and possess a fund of 
observation and anecdote ; or if you are simply a clear thinker, and 
can easily arrange your thoughts, and group them into a picturesque 
expression, you have a right to a large share of the conversation of 

any circle. 

Use Choice Language. 

Let your words be as fit and well chosen as your clothes. Avoid 
coarseness and vulgarity in speech, as you would in costume. Dress 
your best thoughts, in words and phrases of corresponding bec^.uty. 
Plain and homely subjects do not bear finery of expression ; but a 
delicate sentiment may well be embellished with the flowers of 
rhetoric. 

The first salutation may decide your fate with respect to the person 
you salute. Boldness may disgust, bashfulness seem a confession of 
meanness. People are inclined to take you at your own estimate or 
price, unless you appear to set it too high, when they are put on their 
guard not to be cheated. 

Let your first address, then, be firm, quiet, dignified, cordial, but 
not too forward ; confident, but not presuming, and as easy, natural, 
and unaffected, in air, gesture, and language, as possible. There are 
people with whom you are acquainted and at your ease in two min- 
utes. But such persons are entirely at ease with themselves ; entirely 
natural in their expression of themselves. They are what they seem, 
and seem what they are. 

The common principles of equity or justice preside over conversa- 



486 THE ART OF CONVERSING WELL. 

tion. All principles are universal in their application. We iiave no 
more right to be intrusive, or despotic, or overbearing, or in any way 
dishonest in our conversation, than in any other mode of action. We 
have no more right to pass off a counterfeit sentiment or a false 
opinion, than we have a counterfeit note or a false coin. 

Conversation should, therefore, first of all, be honest. There is a 
certain allowance for irony, raillery, satire, and jocularity, as there is 
for games, sports, and pastimes; but whatever purports to be an 
expression of fact, or opinion, or feeling, should be altogether truthful 

Lying, and Accusing Others of It. 

Two things we must never do. We must never tell a falsehood, 
and never accuse another of telling one. The one is a great wrong, 
the other a great insult. A lie is in the intent to deceive, and thereb}( 
injure. The untruth of badinage and drollery has no bad motive, and 
neither deceives nor injures. A mystification is not meant to harm 
any one. Irony may be the opposite of literal truth. But real, 
essential truthfulness is the first element of social confidence ; and we 
should be carefully accurate in all serious speech, and never accuse 
another of what we would not do ourselves. If we doubt the correct- 
ness of a statement, we must express that doubt with delicacy and 
politeness. 

It has been said that the hardest thing to tolerate is intolerance. 
But intolerance is bad manners, and bad manners are intolerable. The 
rule is not to intrude our own beliefs or unbeliefs, and especially the 
latter, for the assertion of unbelief is an attack upon belief Infidelity 
is negation — contradiction. We may excuse the earnestness of one 
who wishes us to accept his belief, but why should a man wish to 
convert us to his unbelief? In any case, a man <,! delicacy and 
humanity will avoid giving pain. 

Indecency of language is banished from all decent society. Equiv- 
ocal expressions, double entendre, jests which mingle blushes with 
laughter are no longer tolerated. The novels that were once fashion- 
able have become unreadable ; the comedies that once drew crowded 



THE ART OF CONVERSING WELL. 487 

and applauding audiences are scarcely read in the closet ; the songs 
and stories that once set the table in a roar are never heard. At the 
same time, there is less squeamishness and more freedom in the seri- 
ous discussion of important though disagreeable subjects than 
formerly. 

The facts of our social condition cannot be utterly ignored, and 
earnest discussion must accompany earnest work. The evils of 
rfociety must be known that they may be remedied. They must be 
grappled with, or they cannot be removed. Such matters, however, 
can be mtroduced only by common consent, and in accordance with 
the law of supply and demand. The few should not force their 
favorite topics upon the many, and the many should have some 
regard for the feelings and even the prejudices of the smallest 
minority. 

Impertinent Questions. 

In conversation^, questioning is often disagreeable and even offen- 
sive. Curiosity may become intrusive. No one likes to be cross- 
examined. No one likes prying into his private affairs. People do 
not like to be questioned about their ages, business, property, or per- 
sonal relations. There are pertinent and impertinent questions ; ques- 
tions which draw people out, and help them to talk well ; but there 
are also questions which embarrass and annoy. As a rule, it is better 
to make observations and suggestions than to ask direct questions. 

To make a butt of any person in company, to expose him to ridi- 
cule, or turn the laughter of the company against him, is as much an 
outrage as it would be to pull his nose, slap his face, or box his ears. 
Ridicule is only justifiable where it is a fair game that two can play 
at ; a contest of well-matched wits, who encounter like a couple of 
wrestlers or fencers. 

Women of great genius and varied talent are sometimes almost 
entirely lacking in conversational powers. Brilliant writers are often 
very poor talkers — shy, dull, silent, with no power of expression. On 
the other hand, an extreme volubility of small talk and common- 
places may accompany the utmost shallowness of mind. 



488 TITE ARl' OF CONYERSING WELL. 

There is a power in conversation, as in all modes of expression, 
which may be termed magnetic. Certan persons impress us deeply 
with a few simple words, or a quiet gesture, or a mere Icok. The 
words are nothing, the action is but a slight and simple movement, 
yet there is a power in them to charm, to thrill, to subdue us. It is 
the force of the spirit, the magnetism of a strong and penetrative or 
sympathetic soul. The same words from another person would not 
affect us. 

This power in an orator or an actor is quite distinct from his sub- 
ject or his words. It is his own power. He may be speaking on 
any subject ; preaching any doctrine. It is beHeved by some that 
this mysterious power is communicated to the manuscripts of certain 
writers, and even to their printed works. 

Show Attention and Interest. 

Inattention, or the appearance of inattention, to a person speaking 
to you, is very bad manners. You should not only listen, but should 
seem to do so ; and do nothing which can detract from that appear- 
ance. You need not continually reply, " yes," " ah ! " " no," " you 
don't say," " fancy! " These exclamations have the benevolent inten- 
tion of showing your interest in the speaker, and encouraging him to 
proceed, but they are something more than is requisite. Listen with 
a silent, thoughtful, interested or pleased attention. Look at the per- 
son who addresses you. Look him clear in the eye, or at least watch 
the expression of his countenance. 

Many admirable conversationalists never argue or dispute. They 
assert the facts they know or believe to be true ; they propound such 
principles as they entertain ; they give opinions or make suggestions. 
If their facts are doubted or denied, they leave them to be settled by 
observation, testimony or competent authority. If their principles 
are questioned, they may state the science or analogies on which they 
are based. If their opinions are criticized, they only ask for the same 
toleration they give to others. Their suggestions and surmises are 
to be taken for what they are worth. 



I 



THE ART OY CONVERSING WELL. 489 

But many persons are fond of disputation. It is a mental exercise 

^an exciting game — a kind of cerebral gymnastics. Within the 

bounds of good breeding, and so conducted as not to give annoyance 
to others, these discussions may be harmless and even advantageous. 
But they can rarely be entered upon in general society. 

Men argue, not to be convinced that they are in the wrong ; not 
always to set others right, but to display their skill or triumph in a 
contest. Even in public discussions, where two or more able men 
are pitted against each other, and the partisans of each combatant 
assemble to hear them, how few are ever converted from one side 
to the other ? 

Opinions Seldom Changed by Hot Discussions. 

In most discussions, we contend with prejudices, bigotries, and 
idiosyncrasies. How seldom do all the controversies continually 
going forward, in private conversations, in the pulpit, and by means 
of the press, convert a religionist, or even a politician, to an opposite 
faith? Politeness is truly cosmopolitan. It does not ask where one 
was bom, or what she believes, nor even what she does, so long as it 
is her own personal affair. It only requires that she be a lady ; and 
one true lady can do nothing to offend. 

A bigot cannot be a lady, for she must obtrude her own prejudices, 
and attack those of others. A certain degree of tolerance for a variety 
of opinions, manners, and morals, adds to the interest of society, and 
prevents the necessity of excluding so many subjects that nothing 
remains to talk about. Doubtless, the more there is of freedom and 
toleration, the more interesting must be the conversation of any circle. 

People who wish to please others pay them compliments, praise 
them, flatter them. Flattery is indiscreet, insincere, or selfish praise. 
Undeserved praise is the severest censure. Indiscreet praise exposes 
us to the jealousy of others. Insincere praise is lying with a benevo= 
lent or selfish motive. But honest, judicious praise is a matter of 
justice as well as kindness ; and it not only gives pleasure, but is often 
a real benefit. We are probably too reticent in this respect— tor 



490 THE ART OF CONVERSING WELL. 

stingy of our applause. It is better to freely, generously, graciously 
commend whatever we find of excellence, and even all well-meant, 
even if uncuccessful, efforts. 

What a stimulant to effort is the hearty greeting of an artist on his 
first appearance before an audience. The enthusiastic applause which 
rewards success is very delightful. We cannot always give the same 
expressions of applause in society, but we can and ought to give a 
frank expression of our good will, pleasure, admiration, and gratitude. 
We want more simple heartiness in such matters, and much less of 
that reticence which seems like stupidity, indifference, envy, or 
contempt. 

The rules of politeness are never at variance with the principles of 
morality. Whatever is really impolite is really immoral. We have 
no right to offend people with our manners or conversp^tion. We 
have no right to deal with or be influenced by gossip about the people 
we meet. Their private affairs are none of our business. If we 
believe a man to be unfit company for us, we must not invite him, 
but if we meet him where he has been invited by others, we must 
treat him with civility. 

Cast Out Notorious Offenders. 

If we know a man or woman to be a grave offender, we cannot use 
that knowledge to injure him or her, unless it is absolutely needful 
for the protection of others. The greatest and best men in the world 
have been assailed with calumny. The purest and noblest do not 
always escape it. We cannot investigate — as a rule we must disre- 
gard — all slanders. Where great offences become notorious, the 
offenders must be excommunicated. In all other cases we must give 
every one the benefit of a doubt ; apply charitable constructions, hope 
for the best, and consider every one innocent until he is proven guilty. 

There are little blunders in conversation we do well to avoid. It is 
better not to call out the names of persons we address. We have no 
right to call attention to the business or profession of any person, or 
our own, or to introduce private affairs into general society. Few 



THE ART OF CONVERSING WELL. 491 

people like nicknames ; and we must give people their proper desig- 
nations, unless they really wish us to do otherwise. 

Avoid expletives and exaggerations, and deal sparingly with ex- 
clamations. You cannot laugh without explaining what you are 
laughing at. You cannot whisper without apology. Do not speak 
to any person in a language a third party cannot understand. This 
does not, of course, apply to the case of a foreigner, whom you 
address in his own language — but even then you ought to interpret. 
Do not quote Latin or Greek in the presence of those who may be 
presumed to be ignorant of either. 

The rules for conversation are the same as for all behavior — 
simplicity, modesty, a calm self-possession, reverence for age and 
superiority of every kind, a desire to please others and promote their 
happiness, a forgetfulness of self, or utter absence of all selfishness, 
care of the absent, justice, benevolence, chanty. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 
Miscellaneous Rules of Etiquette. 

lights of the Sidewalk — Meeting on the Street — Washington's Politeness — ^Th« 
Veil — Street Recognition— Behavior in Church — Punctuality — Reverent De 
nicanor — The Tardy — The Talkative and Restless — Expressing Approval- 
How to Treat ** Company" — Gallantry — Politeness at Home — The Hoiden— 
The Prude — Indoor Recreations — Undue Familiarity — Courtesy to Strangers- 
Formal Calls — Social Visits and Entertainmerts — Simpering and Frivolity. 

'T'TOUNG people often seem unconscious of the fact that their 
J^ behavior on the street attracts the attention of older people, 
and impresses them with favorable or unfavorable ideas of 
their character. Propriety should govern all street behavior. Polite 
people never do anythmg on the street to attract attention ; they should 
neither talk in a loud, boisterous manner, nor laugh uproariously. 
Conversation that is so noisy as to attract the attention of the passing 
crowd is either the result of ignorance or of a petty effort to secure a 
little vulgar notoriety. 

It is not courteous for young persons of either or of both sexes to 
have long conferences on the street, as they may obstruct the side- 
walk, and at the same time excite both critical and unpleasant 
remarks. Every person is entitled to his share of the sidewalk, and 
this right should always be respected. It is only the rude, low-bred 
woman and the blustering bully that assert their vulgarity by refusing 
to give the half of the pavement. As a gentleman or lady can nevei 
afford to come in collision with such people, it would be better tHey 
should even leave the sidewalks than be jostled. To assert ovir real or 
fancied superiority by depriving others of their rights is rude and 
vulgar. 

When persons pass each other on the pavement, they should 

observe the same rule that drivers do on the street, in order to avoid 

the inconvenience and danger of a collision. P^ach should kesep to the 

right. When a gentleman and lady walk in company, he shouUi 

492 



RULES OF ETIQUETTE. 493 

be at the lady's left, in order to prevent those passing from running 
against her. There is no necessity for the gentleman to change his 
position at every comer, in order that he may be on the side next the 
street. She will be protected better if always at the gentleman's right. 
Persons walking in company should always keep step together. 

When a gentleman and lady cross the street in company, and the 
crossing is narrow and muddy, requiring them to go singly, delicacy 
requires that he should precede her, for the same reason that he should 
be the first to go upstairs and the last to come down. 

Persons should not be so engrossed in conversation as to pass their 
friends upon the street without notice, if it only be a slight inclination 
of the head and a pleasant smile. Serious offense may be unwittingly 
^iven to those whom we should have recognized, but seemed to forget. 
Such apparent neglect is very trying to the self-love of sensitive people, 
md may be mistaken for intentional rudeness. 

Anecdote of Washington. 

Captain Stephen Trowbridge, once the oldest male inhabitant of 
Vlilford, N. H., told the following incident of Washington's visit to 
hat village in 1 790 : While the latter was walking about the town, 
attended by a number of his officers, a colored soldier, who had 
fought under him and lost a limb in his service, made his way up to 
the general and saluted him. Washington turned to this colored 
soldier, shook hands with him, and gave him a present of a silver 
dollar. One of the attendants objected to the civilities thus shown by 
the President of the United States to such an humble person ; but 
Washington rebuked him sharply, asking if he should permit this 
colored man to excel him in politeness. 

When a lady appears on the street with a veil over her face, it may 
sometimes be a sign that she does not wish to be recognized, and an 
acquaintance may pass her as a stranger, without either giving or 
taking offense. If the lady, on approaching, shall remove her veil, it 
indicates that she wishes to be seen and known. 

Young people should always be prompt to acknowledge the polite- 



4U4 RULES OF ETIQUETTE. 

ness of those who notice them. They should never speak to their 
superiors first, as it might be construed as a mark of pert familiarity ; 
but when a lady or gentleman wishes to salute them, they should 
respond with a pleasant *' good-morning" or "good-evening," as the 
case may be, accompanied by an agreeable smile. It is expected 
that a lady will always recognize the gentleman first; a girl, the boy ; 
and, as a rule, the superior the inferior in age or statioa 

It is presumed that young people know and are willing to respect 
the usages of the church which it is their custom to attend ; but as it 
may not be so clear what politeness requires of those who visit 
churches of other denominations, a few words may not be inappro- 
priate upon the subject. As has already been indicated, the right of 
worship is one of the inalienable rights of every man, and it is one of 
the glories of our republican government that it assures to every man 
the full enjoyment of this right in the erection of houses of worship, 
and in the exercise of any forms of religious service. 

Behavior in Church. 

There is a marked difference in the forms of worship in the syna> 
gogue, the cathedral, the church, and the meeting-house, and if the 
Jews, the Catholics, the Episcopalians, or the Friends will open their 
doors, that we may witness their ceremonies, the least that we can do 
in accepting their invitation is to behave in a becoming manner. No 
more serious offense can be committed than to show disrespect to any 
person's religious faith, especially in the house dedicated to the wor- 
ship of God. As our attendance there is an entirely voluntary matter, 
we shall be inexcusable if we injure the feelings of any by an apparent 
disregard of the sanctities of the place. 

Mrs. Chapone was asked why she always went so early to church. 
-' Because," said she, " it is a part of my religion not to disturb the 
religion of others." Appreciating this idea, we should be punctual to 
the hour appointed for the services to commence, or, if by accident we 
arrive too late, we should wait at the door during the opening exer- 
cisC; and enter when there is a change in the service. 



RULES OF ETIQUETTE. 495 

The entrance to the church should be in as noiseless a manner as 
possible, and with as little clattering of shoes or rustling of dresses as 
can be made. Such exhibitions as are sometimes given of new 
fashions by those who enter late provoke criticisms, not only unsuit- 
able to the time and place, but also very uncomplimentary to the 
exhibitors. Refined people never display such extreme vulgarity. If 
we are not acquainted with the usages of the place, an officer or person 
appointed for such duty will conduct us to a suitable seat. If invited to 
follow him, we should do so, taking the place he assigns, and thanking 
him quietly, at least by a smile, for his courtesy. 

Conforming to Customs of Worship, 

It is the custom of the Turks, when they enter a mosque, which is 
a Mohammedan place of worship, to take off their shoes, that the 
sacred place may not be defiled. There are those in this land who, 
v/hen they enter even their own church, not only do not remove their 
shoes, but fail also to clean off the mud that adheres to them. A 
decent respect for the usages of good society might prompt such 
people to practice the external rules of politeness, even if no higher 
motive should influence them. 

If the services are such that we may properly join them, it is our 
duty to do so. It is rude to sit when the congregation stands, unless 
we have some conscientious scruples against standing. If there be 
anything strange or peculiar in the ceremonies, it is the grossest rude- 
ness to express any marks of disapprobation or contempt by talking 
or laughing. Such misconduct is inexcusable. Nor is it proper to 
read a paper or book during the service, as it appears disrespectful to 
the minister, the choir, and the congregation, by an implied indiffer- 
ence to the sermon and the services. 

Do not appear to be inattentive, not look at your watch, nor yawn, 
nor sleep, nor be in an unbecoming haste to leave when the exercises 
are over. Unless sickness or some imperative call compel you to 
leave the house, you should remain until the close of the service. 
When the congregation is passing from the house, do not crowd and 



496 RULES OF ETIQUETTE. 

jostle, as if you were in a hurry to leave. Be calm, decorous, and 
dignified. If a lady, you should refuse to be escorted by one who 
waits outside for your appearance. 

When we buy a ticket to a concert or lecture, we purchase a right 
to all the enjoyment the entertainment affords, subject, however, to 
the restriction that we do not interfere with the rights of others. We 
may secure a reserved seat, but have no right to go in at such a time 
or in such a manner as to disturb others after the exercises have com- 
menced. If the seats have not been reserved, those who come first 
have the choice. 

It is not uncommon to see men and women enter the hall after ths 
exercises have begun, who seem utterly ignorant of the proprieties ol 
the place, or indifferent to the rights of all present. Oftentimes they 
take no care to come in gently, and manifest no desire, apparently, to 
avoid the disturbance their entrance occasions. It is such women that 
push up far to the front, and stand at some gentleman's side, who has 
come early and secured a seat, in the expectation that he will surren- 
der his place. Gentlemen are thus sometimes deprived of their rights 
by the coarse manners of an unfeeling, selfish woman, who has not 
zv^n the politeness to acknowledge the courtesy. 

A Mark of Bad Breeding. 

A lady should feel a great reluctance in depriving an acquaintance, 
and much more a stranger, of a seat to which she has no claim. Any 
gentleman who surrenders his seat under such circumstances does it 
out of pure gallantry, and any lady who receives such a favor should 
feel under special obligations, and promptly return her thanks to the 
donor. The neglect of such an acknowledgment is a mark of very 
bad breeding. 

The signs that distinguish rude pupils in school are the very same 
that mark the impolite at the concert. They talk and chatter and 
simper, to the intense disgust and annoyance of the really discrimina' 
ting and intelligent portion of the audience. Well-bred, persons pay 
aiore respect to the rights and feelings of their neighbors than to 



RULES OF ETIQUETTE. 497 

indulge their own selfishness in that manner. The cracking and 
eating of nuts, and the rustling of fans, programmes, and dresses, are 
all exhibitions of thoughtless rudeness, and are unbecoming in a place 
devoted to literary or musical culture. 

Young folks, on such occasions, are sometimes excited. They lose 
their self-possession, and become impatient for the exercises to begin. 
Feeling in this condition, they offend against good taste by whistling, 
cat-calling, and shouting. Such exhibitions of vulgarity do not dis- 
tinguish refined and polished people, and always give sffense to the 
better and more cultivated portion of the audience. 

Showing Approbation. 

If the sentiments of the speaker or performer are agreeable, we may 
approve them by the clapping of hands for his encouragment but if 
they do not meet our approbation, we need not offend others by 
hissing or giving other evidences of disapproval. We must bear in 
mind that every man and woman has a right to express opinions in 
this country, and if we do not like them we are not compelled to hear 
them ; but if we go to learn, it is our duty to listen patiently and for- 
bearingly. Stamping is a very objectionable form of applause, since 
it usually raises a dust, that is very disagreeable to the audience. 

It is one of the rudest breaches of politeness for a lady to intimate 
to a gentleman that she would be pleased to have him escort her to 
any public entertainment, especially where tickets are to be purchased. 
Such conduct would place her under a very unpleasant sense of obli- 
gation, and maybe the cause of much embarrassment to the gentleman. 
He may have other plans which will be disturbed by such an invitation, 
or, if he be in limited circumstances, the loss of the money may prove 
a serious inconvenience. If he gives the lady an invitation, it rests 
with her to accept it, or respectfully to decline. 

No young lady will accept such politeness without the approbation 
of her family and friends, since it is probable that they have better 
opportunities of knowing whether all the circumstances are suitable. 
Before the hour appointed, the young gentleman should call at her 



498 RULES OlP ETIQUETTE. 

residence, when she, anticipating his coming, should be ready, without 
delay, to accompany him. Sometimes young ladies are very incon- 
siderate. Although they are aware they will be called for, they 
postpone their preparation until it is so late that they lose much of 
their pleasure in their hurry, or mortify their friends by coming late. 
If a lady declines to accompany a young gentleman, she should not 
mention it under any circumstances. It is very unbecoming, when he 
is so polite as to offer her a kindness, that she should add an insult to 
the refusal by telling it. A real lady is never boastful of her ability 
to win admiration, and, much less, should she be willing to triumph 
over those whose attentions she has declined. 

Imposing upon Gentlemon. 

On entering the place of amusement, the gentleman should precede 
the lady, secure a seat for her, and not let her hunt one for herself. 
It is extremely indelicate for a lady even to suggest that a gentleman 
should make a purchase of any luxury, as fruit, nuts, or refreshing 
drink, although it would be proper to request him to procure a glass 
of water. The latter, generally, could be easily obtained by a little 
personal effort, which he would gladly make ; while the former might 
cost what he could ill afford to spend. 

When the exercises are over, the gentleman should accompany the 
lady to her home. If the hour is suitable, the lady may invite him 
into the house ; but, if it is too late, she should say, very frankly : 
" It is too late to invite you to come in, but I shall be pleased to have 
you call again." It is very unbecoming for young people to stand at 
the door to converse, and may give rise to unpleasant remarks. No 
young lady can be too careful to prevent the appearance of any 
familiarity that may not seem to be sanctioned by her parents and 
friends. If the gentleman enters the house, he should be too prudent 
to prolong his stay beyond a proper hour, and thus " wear out his 
welcome." Such thoughtlessness may interfere very seriously with the 
arrangements of the household, and prove a real trespass upon the 
time and good nature of the lady herself. 



RULES OF ETIQUETTE. 499 

One of the distinguishing features of our times is the respect that is 
shown to woman. The lowest civilization exhibits the female as 
degraded and oppressed ; treated like a beast of burden, and made 
entirely dependent upon man ; while the condition of society in w^hich 
we live is made remarkable by the fact that she is recognized as the 
equal of man, socially and religiously, and fit to be his trusted friend 
and counselor. 

Her claims to the best education are respected, so that she may 
become intellectually as great as her industry, her capacity, and her 
ambition will allow. There is no limit to woman's influence for good or 
evil. What she is fitted to do she may accomplish, and every day her 
ability is demonstrated in new and hitherto untried fields of exertion. 

Filial Affection. 

The place above all others in which woman's inspiration is happiest 
and best is as wife, mother, sister, or friend, at home. It is there in 
these relations that we learn to know her best and love her most. 
For young men to reverence the sex is but to pay a tribute of love to 
the influence of their own mothers. The highest compliment that can 
be offered a young man is that he is a tender, devoted son and brother, 
and the worthiest sentiment that can be uttered in praise of a woman 
is that she inspires a son or a brother with such respect and affection. 

The hoiden is defined to be a rude, rough, romping girl. The term 
will apply to such as are not restrained by the rules of polite society 
to be courteous and civil, but are continually planning and performing 
unmaidenly actions. A kind of independence which asserts '"tsclf in 
always doing right, is not the kind that charms the hoider*. 3he 
delights to indulge in violations of propriety, which sometimes shock 
and always annoy her more discreet companions. Such a character 
is not the one that wins commendation, much less admiration and 
respect, from good society. Young men may appear to enjoy her 
company, but she can never be regarded with that high esteem which 
arises from confidence in her modesty and reliance upon her good 
sense. 



500 RULES OF ETIQUETTE. 

The prude is defined to be a female of extreme reserve, who afifects 
peculiar delicacy and coyness of manners. This character is cold, dig- 
nified, and unsociable; always fearful of compromising her reputation, 
always sensitive, censorious, and apt to misinterpret the words and 
actions of others. It is difficult to determine which is the least entitled 
to respect, the hoiden or the prude ; both are unlovely and unwomanly. 

The place above all others in which these peculiar and striking 
phases of character are manifested is in the sociable or small party. 
The excitement incident to such an assembly tends to exhibit the 
natural dispositions -of each individual. Some (and this applies to 
both sexes) are noisy, rude, thoughtless, and inconsiderate ; while 
others are cold, formal, and constrained. To neutralize these diver- 
sities, and enable all to contribute to the enjoyment of the occasion, 
games and amusements of all kinds are brought into requisition. 

Rough Plays. 

There is a great diversity in the forms of recreation which may be 
enjoyed by the young indoors. Some of these are ingenious, amusing, 
and instructive. Every one in the company should join in any diver- 
sion which does not violate her conscience or her sense of propriety. 
Any play that is rough and rude, in which there is danger of injury 
to persons, to furniture, or to clothing, ought not to be tolerated in 
the house. Such exercise is for the open air and the lawn. 

That amusement which permits any improper familiarity between 
the sexes is not in good taste. If the game requires the boys 
to catch, and struggle, and wrestle with the girls, or even to put their 
hands upon their persons, or to kiss them, it is of very doubtful pro- 
priety. Such freedom is not consistent with that respect which the 
sexes should cultivate for each other. 

No girl should permit a boy to be so familiar as to toy with her 
hands, or play with her rings ; to handle her curls, or encircle her 
waist with his arm. Such impudent intimacy should never be toler- 
ated for a moment. No gentleman will attempt it ; no lady will 
permit it 



RULES OF ETIQUETTE. 501 

That was a witty reproof administered to a thoughtless young man 
by a young lady. As they were sitting together on the sofa, he 
carelessly extended his arms upon the back of the seat behind her. 
"Does your arm pain you?" said she. *' Why, no," he replied; 
"but why did you ask?" "I thought it must pain you, for I observe 
it is badly out of place." 

When strangers enter a community, either to make a visit or to 
secure a home, politeness requires that those who desire to make 
their acquaintance shall manifest their disposition to be sociable by 
giving them the first call. The moral law, no less than the social, 
requires that we shall treat them with courtesy and kindness, as it is 
written, "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers." As a general rule, 
nothing is more grateful to a person of refinement, in a strange place, 
than to receive evidences of kind consideration and friendly regard 
from those into whose midst he is accidentally thrown. When a call 
is m.ade upon a stranger, he or she should be politely invited to return 
*he compliment, which should be done at the earliest convenience. 

Friendly Visits and Calls. 

It frequently happens that persons have a long list of acquaintances, 
with whom, on account of the pressure of domestic cares, or other 
important business, which demands the greater part of their time, they 
cannot be on terms of intim_acy, and yet who desire to cultivate theil 
friendship by the exercise at least of a formal sociability. In order to 
accomm.odate this social necessity for recognition, it is the custom to 
make brief visits or calls, at such times as are convenient, upon those 
with whom we are accustomed to associate. 

As the call is necessarily short, it is not expe<^.ted that ladies shall 
remove their bonnets or shawls. When calls of this kind are made^ 
and the same may be said of all visits, the visitor .-^hould always enter 
at the front door, but never until after giving a warning by the knocker 
or door-bell. The degree of intimacy which would justify the viola- 
tion of this rule, and especially an entrance without the use of the 
knocker or bell, should be very clearly established. Suv\\ intercoursQ 



502 RULES OF ETIQUETTE. 

is too unceremonious to base upon it any reasonable expectation of 
permanence, since, ** Too much familiarity breeds contempt." 

When the summons is answered by the opening of the door, inquiry 
should be made for the person or persons in whose honor the call is 
made ; if they are not in, or circumstances prevent their appearance, 
the caller may leave a card, upon which his or her name is written, 
which shows that the call has been made. If cards are not prepared, 
a verbal message may be left, though it is less likely to be delivered. 
In such cases, the card or the message stands instead of the call. 

When calls are not returned, it is understood that even a formal 
sociability is not considered agreeable. 

Pleasant Evenings with Neighbors. 

The call is a visit of ceremony among acquaintances, but the social 
visit is the informal meeting of intimate friends, who may spend hours 
in each others' society, with m_utual pleasure and profit. Such meet- 
ings m_ay be accidental, as when friends drop in to enjoy a pleasant 
evening with a neighbor, without invitation or previous notice on 
either side. In these little gatherings, the cerem_ony and style of 
more formal visits are dispensed with, and hearty good will and 
neighborly love and kindness have their freest and happiest manifes- 
tations in conversation, music, or other recreation. 

If no previous announcement of the visit has been sent, the visitor 
must not feel hurt if he finds, on his arrival, that a form_er engagem_ent 
will prevent his friends from affording him the anticipated pleasure. 
He should excuse them to fulfill their appointments, and lay his plans 
to come again under more favorable circumstances. 

We should always bear in mind that it is our duty to assist in 
entertaining and making others happy, and in relieving the embar- 
rassment of those who are not self-possessed. Particular attention 
should be shown to the aged, the sick, and the deformed ; not in such 
a way as to make them conspicuous, but only to render them happy 
and comfortable. A kind word and a pleasant smile should be ready 
ibr every one, Care should always be taken not to show particular 



RULES OF ETIQUETTE. 503 

or too frequent attention in company to our favorites, lest it may 
excite jealous feelings and unpleasant remarks. 

Do not simper. If there is anything to enjoy that is worthy of a 
laugh, laugh heartily ; but remember that uproarious, boisterous mirth 
is exceedingly vulgar. The ruder the people are, the louder and 
coarser will be their expressions of enjoyment. 

If a person is requested to divert the company with instrumental 
music, a song, or a story, we should stop our conversation, and listen 
respectfully till it is ended. Possibly the entertainment may not be 
very agreeable to us, but the respect we owe to the company, who, it 
may be, are very much pleased, and to the performer, who is trying 
to gratify us, should compel us to be attentive. Loud talking and 
immoderate laughter are frequently heard during the performance of 
music from those whose selfishness will not permit them to make any 
sacrifice of their own pleasure for the gratification of others. 

Do Not Wait to be Coaxed. 

It is very rude for a young person to offer to entertain a com.pany 
^vithout an invitation. When one has the ability to sing or play well, 
and is in.vited to perform., she should do so prom_ptly and gracefully, 
nor wait to be urged. Young people som.etimes expect a great deal 
of coaxing before they comply with a polite request. When one 
accepts the invitation to sing or play, she should be very careful not 
to weary the audience by continuing the effort too long. It is better 
to err on the safe side by singing too little than to cause annoyance 
to those who would prefer a change. 

We should never ask any person to sing or play unless we are very 
sure it will be generally agreeable. To give such an invitation as a 
mere compliment, without desiring to have it accepted, is extremely 
rude and hypocritical. When a lady declines to exhibit her accom- 
plishments, it is not polite to insist, as there may be good reasons 
for the refusal, which it would be improper to make known to th<=^ 
company. 

Some persons are fond of collecting pretty, delicate, and rare sped- 



504 RtJLES Ul* E-IlQUhrrTE. 

mens of shells, corals, pictures, etc., and are very sensitive about their 
being fingered by unskillful hands. When such ornaments are placed 
upon the mantle or table, they are to be seen, but not handled, unless 
at the invitation of the owner. We may look at them, and admire 
their curious combinations of color, but if we should ruin a delicate 
shell or coral by letting it fall, or in some other manner, it will be a 
poor apology to say that the injury was the result of accident. 

We should not yawn in company, nor consult the watch, as if we 
were tired. If it be necessary to leave before the proper time arrives 
for the company to go home, it is better to do so without attracting 
attention. It is not discreet to ** wear out one's welcome," by stay- 
ing to an unreasonable hour ; it would be better to have our friends 
regret our going than to wish we were gone. When leaving the 
house of our entertainers, we should always see them and bid them 
good-bye. 



^^Iptjabetical Iijdex of Subjects. 



A PAGE 

Ablution, Best Method of .... 378 

Ablutions in Labor 183 

Abdomen, Increased Size of . . .110 
Accomplishments, Artificial ... 35 
Accomplishments, Female .... 351 

Acidity, Treatment for 259 

Advice to the Unmarried 26 

Affections, Trifling with 33 

Affection, Filial 499 

Afterbirth, Battledore 177 

Afterbirth, The 150 

Afterbirths, Twin 173 

Air. Necessity of Pure 238 

American Mothers, Appeal to . . 344 

Amusements 500 

Animation, To Restore Suspended 176 
Animal Kingdom, Lesson from . . 47 

Appearance, Personal 351 

Appetite, Morbid in Pregnancy . .112 

Approbation, Showing 497 

Asthma in Children ....... 330 

Artificial Food for Infants . . . .289 

Awkward Persons 446 

B 

Baths, Cold and Hot 371 

Baldness 399 

Baths and Injections for Whites . 246 

Bathing, Best Time for 282 

Baldness of Age 416 

Bandage After Labor 179 

Bathing for Health and Beauty . . 363 

Beauty, Female 351 

Beautifier, Nature's Greatest . . .349 

Beauty and Bodily Vigor 389 

Beauty, Decay of 360 

^auty Impaired by Dis^^se ... 381 



tAGB 

Beauty of Face and Features . . . 420 

Beauty of Woman 52 

Beauty, True Basis of 359 

Bladder, Attention to in Labor . . 182 

Blood, How Purified 382 

Bleeding, How to Stop 392 

Body, Exhalations from 120 

Bones and Ligaments 6S 

Bonnets and Hats 442 

Breant, Ailments of 197 

Breast, Applications for 193 

Breast, Darting Pains in .... . 107 

Breasts, Inflammation of 25-1- 

Breast-pump.«^ 224 

Breast, Gathered 222 

Breast Nourishment, Substitutes 

for .290 

Breast, Two Forms of Gathered . 225 
Breast, Permanent Injuries of . .226 
Breasts, Remedy for Full . . . 215 
Breeding, A Mark of Bad .... 496 

Brown Bread, Value of 228 

Bruises, How to Treat ,390 

Bums, How to Treat 390 

C 

Cards, Visiting . . . , 465 

"Change of Life," Medicine for . 251 

ChiM, Weaning of , 212 

Children, Diet for .317 

Children, Diseases of 312 

Child-bed Fever . . • 268 

Children, Neglected by Parents . 25 
Children, Dependent on Parents . 31 

Children, Precocious 38 

Children, Feeble 88 

Children, Limiting the Number of 104 

605 



506 



ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 



Childbirth, Mother's Joy in 
Character, How Formed . . 
" Change of Life " .... 
Chloroform in Labor . , . 
Chest, A Full 



PAGE 
. 171 

. 95 
. 90 
. 171 
. 449 



Cholera Infantum and Summer 

Complaint 324 

Church, Behavoir in 494 

Clothing and Ablution 277 

Clothing, Danger of Changing . . 443 

Clothing, Warm 239 

Complexion, How Perfected . . . 373 
Cold in the Head ..•'.... 314 

Coffee, Effects of 229 

Constipation of Pregnancy .... 260 

Cold, To Prevent Taking 279 

Conversation, Art of 473 

Convulsions in Teething 303 

Corns, Removal of 346 

Coquettes and Flatterers 28 

Consent of Parents . ....... 32 

Cosmetics 352 

Consumption . 336 

Consumption, Last Stages of ,. . . 337 
Conversation, Guiding the .... 475 

Constipation of Infants ...... 322 

Constitution, How Broken Down . 53 
Courtesies in Private and Public . 62 

Courtship 59 

Conception 95 

Conception, How Prevented . . . 103 

Conception. Laws of . 99 

Costiveness in Pregnancy .... 168 
Costiveness Treatment for , . . . 169 
Coition, Rules for Performing . . 102 
Complexion, Affected by Sunlight 376 ) 

Common Sense 205 

Cough in Teething 309 

Colic, Children's 315 

Costiveness, Remedies for .... 343 

Cramps in Labor 164 

"Crooked Stick" 26 

Crying of Newborn Children . . 315 
Curious Facts , 85 



Customs, Social 
Curling-tongs . 
Customs, False 



PAGB 

. 466 
.402 
. 22 



Dandruff, To Remove , 383 

Dancing-masters 448 

Depilatories 418 

Deportment 445 

Diet and Regimen for Women . . 270 

Diet for the Infant 287 

Diarrhoea of Children 324 

Diseases Peculiar to Women . . . 232 

Diseases of Children 312 

Disease Fatal to Beauty 381 

Disease, Sin of Transmitting ... 46 

Disease, How to Prevent 331 

Disease, Sources of 121 

Diet, Poor and Insufficient . . .338 
Diet During Pregnancy ..... 122 
Diet, Variety of for the Mother . . 204 
Disposition, A Sunny ...... 455 

Disinfectants, Use of 118 

Doctors, Mischief-making .... 206 

Dress, Absurdities of 436 

Dress and Display ........ 64 

Dress, Rules for 435 

Dress, Follies of 42 

Dress, Improprieties of 353 

Dress, Governed by Health . . . 114 

Dress, Tasteful 434 

Dress, Stripes of 437 

Dress, Suited to the Complexion . 433 

Drinks, Adulterated 357 

Dyspepsia 208 



Ears, The 430 

Education at Home 24 

Eggs in Animals 129 

Embryo, Fifteen Days Old .... 142 
Embryo, Twenty-one Days Old . 143 

Employments, Useful 463 

Enjoyments, Domestic ,,.... 27 



ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 



507 



PAGE 

Errors to be Avoided 30 

Etiquette, Rules of 492 

Stiquette to be Studied 466 

Excitement in Pregnancy .... 113 
Exhaustion, Treatment for Female 266 

Exercise, Importance of 193 

Eyebrows, How to Beautify .... 424 

Eyes, Beauty of 421 

Eyes, How Injured 423 

Eyes, What to Do for Them ... 422 

F 

Face Pimples 345 

Face and Features ........ 420 

Face, Protection for the ..... 441 

Faces, Sallow and Scrawny .... 358 

Fainting 342 

Falling Womb, Treatment for . . . 250 

Fallopian Tubes 78 

Fashion, Slaves of 439 

Fatigue, Avoiding 450 

Female Forms, Laced and Unlaced 43 

File Used for Corns 347 

Fits in Children 326 

Flatulence in Children 319 

Flatterers 28 

Flesh-brushes , . . 380 

Flesh-gloves . , . 380 

Flesh, Loss of in Pregnancy . . . .111 

Flooding, Alarming • . 254 

Flooding, Treatment for 256 

Foetus, Development of 140 

Foetus, Misplaced 272 

Food, Adulterated 357 

Food, How Given to Infants . . . 294 

Food, Highly Seasoned .124 

Freckles, How to Remove .... 385 
French and Americans Contrasted 369 
Friction, Good for the System . . 379 
Fruit, EflFect Upon a Child .... 306 

G 

Generation, Organs of 66 

Generation, Wo^ders of . .... 133 



PAGB 

Genital Organs, Female 71 

Gestation, Period of 151 

Gestation, Time Required for . . . 149 

Germs, Production of 135 

Germ, The Life 101 

Girls, True Accomplishments of. . 23 
Girls, Exercise and Food for . . . 350 

Gluttony, Sin of 451 

Golden Rule 457 

Gossips and Croakers 170 

Graafian Vesicles 79 

Graafian Vesicle, Diagram of . . . 80 

Green Sickness 234 

Gum-boils 346 

Gums, Hard Substances Injure . . 304 

Gums, Lancing the 302 

Gums, Swollen . . * 309 

Gymnastics 448 

H 

Hair, Management of 400 

Hair, Pomade for 402 

Hair-brushes 401 

Hair, Good Applications for , . .408 

Hair Straight or Curly 397 

Hair, " Standing on End " . . . . 395 

Hair, Artificial Styles of 403 

Hair and Curling-tongs 402 

Hair, Skill in Cutting 406 

Hair of French Royalty 394 

Hair, Gray 399 

Hair Injured by Dressing 404 

Hair Treated with Electricity . . . 415 

Hair, Restoration of 411 

Hair Affected by Age 398 

Hairs, to Remove Superfluous . . 418 ' 
Hair, Rosemary Water for . . . .417 

Hair, Ammonia for the 417 

Hair, Loss of 412 

Hair, Ornamental Dressing of . . . 440 

Hats and Bonnets 442 

Happiness and Love 57 

Head, Keeping it Cool 285 

Health, A Test of 100 



608 



ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 



Health, Bracing Up the 237 

Health, Essentials of 35G 

Health Promoted by Bathing . . .364 

Heartburn in Pregnancy 112 

Heartburn. Treatment for ... . 259 

Heart, Service of 58 

Heart Weakness 233 

Head, A Dust-trap 407 

Heredity, Ignorance of 47 

Hiccough 313 

Home Education 24 

How to Prevent Disease 331 

Husband, Anxious to Get .... 27 
Hymen, The 72 



Idleness 456 

Infant, Clothing for 283 

Infant, Wakefulness of .... . 315 

Infant, Diet for 287 

Infants, Tongue-tied 288 

Indigestion of Children 31 8 

Inflammation, How Produced . . 224 

Introduction, Letters of 469 

Introductions, When Not Needed 460 
Instruments, Use of in Labor . .165 



Labor in Childbirth 160 

Labor, Clothing After 178 

Labor, Afterpains of 167 

Labor, Regular Pains of 161 

Labor, Sickness in ........ 162 

Labor Without a Doctor 173 

Labor, Symptoms of 161 

Labor, Three Stages of 167 

Labor, Usual Length of Time . . 166 

Lactation 194 

Ladies, Honors Paid to 459 

Lemonade as a Beverage 384 

Life and Happiness 36 

Light, Effects of 377 

Like Begets Like 37 

Lips, Remedy for Chapped . . .427 



Little Things, Importance of . . . 467 

Love and Parentage 49 

Love and Marriage 18 

Love Lasts a Lifetime 50 

Love, Not to be Stimulated . . . 2& 

Lovers, Young , .... 60 

Lying-in Room, The ISD 

M 

Mamma, Milk-ducts in 199 

Mamma, Section of 202 

Manners, Good 445 

Marriage and Female Beauty . . 52 
Marriages, Causes of Unhappy . . 19 

Marriage, Natural 1£ 

Marriage, Preparation for .... 23 
Marriage, Responsibility of ... 45 
Marriage Qualifications for ... 17 
Marital Kindness, Example of . . 56 
Marrying, Best Age for ..... 82 

Match-making Mothers 464 

Meanness . , 358 

Medicine, Constant Doses of . . . 230 
Medicines Lose their Effect . . .344 

Melancholy 208 

Menstrual Discharge ...... 86 

Menstruation, Regularity of . . . 89 

Menstruation . 81 

Menstruation,- Profuse ...... 241 

Menstruation, Causes of Profuse .241 

Menses, Suppression of 236 

Menses, Treatment for Suppres- 
sion 236 

Mental Depression 205 

Mental Organization 37 

Milk, Secretion of 264 

Milk-fever 200 

Milk, Sudden Diminution of . . . 216 

Milk, Loss of 221 

Milk, Mother's the Best ..... 204 

Milk-crust 320 

Milk, How to Prepare 297 

Mind and Body 10 

i Miscarriage, Causes of 187 



ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 



509 



Miscarriage, Greatest Danger of .190 
Miscarriage, Symptoms of . . . .189 
Miscarriage, Treatment for . . .191 

Misery in Married Life 34 

Mohammed's Paradise 17 

Moles, How Removed 386 

Mother, Employment for the . . 185 
Mothers, Delicate 295 

N 

Navel-strings . . 173 

Neck of Beauty 431 

Neglect, Blighting Effects of ... 63 

Nervous Affections 91 

Newly Married, Truths for ... 55 
Nipple, Bitter Applications for . . 214 
Nipples, Cracked and Fissured . . 221 
Nipple, Dark Circle Around . . . 107 
Nipples, Small and Drawn in , . . 219 

Nose, The 425 

Nose-bleeding 341 

Nose, How Changed in Form . . 425 

Nostrums 352 

Nurses, Good and Bad 184 

Nurses, Interference by 200 

Nursing, A Duty of Mothers . . . 195 
Nursing; A Healthy Process . . . 196 

Nursing, Effects of = „ . 87 

Nursing Mother, Food for ... . 203 

Nursing, Too Much 202 

Nursing, Wrong Position in . . . 223 



Occupation, Recommended . . . 209 
Organs, Male and Female .... 96 

Ornaments, Wearing of 444 

Ovaries, of the Female . . . .".130 

Ovaries, What for 134 

Ovisacs 79 

Ovum, Diagram of 144 

Ovum Passing into the Womb . . 131 
Ovum, In Fallopian Tube .... 132 

Ovum of Five Weeks 145 

Ovum, Entering the Womb Cavity 142 



page: 
Ovum of a Rabbit ........ 13G 

Ovum, Ripe . 133 

Ovum of Eight Weeks 147 

Ovum of Five Months 148 

Ovum, Fourteen Days Old .... 141 

Ovumof Seven Weeks 145 

Ovum, The Human 128 



Pain, Benefits of 1x9 

Palpitation of Heart 233 

Parasol, Use of 441 

Parlor, Etiquette of the 468 

Parturition 160 

Pelvis, The 65 

Pelvis, Deformed 69 

Pelvis, Male and Female 68 

*' Periods " During Suckling , . . 211 

Pimples and Blotches 345 

Poisons, Contagious 366 

Politeness 445 

Politeness of the French 453 

Pomade for the Hair 402 

Powder, The Best for Infants . . .281 

Pregnancy, Bathing in 115 

Pregnancy, Best Clothing in . . . 113 
Pregnancy, Activity During . . . 117 

Pregnancy 106 

Pregnancy, Indolence and Weak- 
ness in .... , 116 

Pregnancy, Remedies for Ail 

ments of 126 

Pregnancy External to the Womb 271 
Pregnancy, Extra-uterine .... 273 
Pregnancy, Health Rules for . . . 115 

Pregnancy, Time Table 152 

Profuse Menstruation, Remedies 

for 343 

Pulse, an Index of Health .... 361 

Puberty 82 

Puberty, Remarkable Changes at 138 

Pulse, How Affected 3QZ 

Punctuality 471 

Purification by Water 367 



filO 



ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 



Quaker, Story of 56 

Qualifications for Marriage .... 17 

Quarrels in Married Life 27 

Queen, Social 458 

Quickening, Causes and Sensa- 
tions of 109 

Quickening, Period of 108 



Readers, Poor 

Receptions 

Refreshment After Labor . 
Refreshments at Receptions 
Relatives, Evils of Marrying 

Rest, Necessity of 

Rice for the Baby 



474 
470 
179 
470 
46 
122 
292 



Salutation, Rules of 454 

Scab in Children 320 

Scalds, How to Treat 39C 

Scalp, Friction for the 414 

Scalp, Washing of the 405 

Scrofula 332 

Seasoning for Infants' Food . . . 294 

Seeds in Vegetables . 129 

Self-discipline 21 

Seminal Granules 139 

Sex, Can It Be Determined? ... 158 

Sexes, Proportion of 159 

Sexes Should Not be Separated . . 461 

Shoulders, Broad 39 

Skin, A Delicate Structure .... 375 
Skin Diseases, How to Prevent . . 281 

Skin, Three Layers of .374 

Skin, Treatment of 365 

Sleep, Best Apartment for ... . 125 

Smallpox Pits 388 

Snuffles 314 

Soap and Water 370 

Social Distinctions 462 

Social Queen, The 458 

Society 452 



Sore Throat 339 

Spermatozoa 97 

Spermatic Fluid and the Ovaries . 98 

Spine, Curvature of 334 

Spine, Treatment of Diseased - . 335 

Stillbirths 174 

Stomach, Making an Idol of . . . 41 
Stomach Overloaded in Pregnancy 123 

Stooping, Evils of 334 

Sucking the Thumb 305 

Suckling, Stated Times for . . . 201 I 
Sunlight and the Complexion . .376 
Swelling of Lower Limbs .... 262 



Talkers, Good 474 

Teeth, A Natural Growth .... 310 

Teeth, Care of the 428 

Teeth, Effective Cleaning of . . . 429 

Teeth, Second Set 311 

Teething .301 

Teething, Remedies for Painful . 308 

Teething, Painful 307 

Tea, Effects of 229 

Temper, An Amiable 207 

Temperaments 41 

Testes, Anatomy of 137 

Testis, Body of 138 

Thrush in Infants 321 

Thorax, Natural Form of ... . 40 

Time for Bathing 282 

Tobacco, Bad Effects of 340 

Toothache During Pregnancy . . 26! 

Towel, The Rough 239 

Truths for the Newly Married . . 55 

Twins, Cases of 150 

Twins, Position of in the Womb . 175 

U 

Unmarried, Advice to 2B 

Urinary Difficulties During Preg- 
nancy 263 

Uterus, The 74 



ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 



511 



Vaccination , . . . . 330 

Vagina, The 72 

Vanity, Female 354 

Varicose Veins 262 

Ventilation and Drainage .... 117 

Visits and Calls 501 

Vomiting by Children 318 

W 

Walking, Graceful 447 

Washington, Anecdote of ... . 493 

Washing, Thorough 280 

Wastefulness 456 

Warmth, A Chief Requisite . . .284 

Warts, To Destroy 348 

Water, A Stimulant 368 

Water, Must be Pure 121 

Water, Temperature for Bathing . 278 
Water Used for Costiveness . . . 343 
Waterbrash, Treatment for . . . . 259 



Weaning, Directions for 299 

Weaning the Child 212 

Weaning, Vicious Practice in . . 300 
Weaning, When Necessary . . .217 

Whites 245 

Whites, Treatment for 245 

Woman, Well-trained 20 

Women, Idle and Thriftless . . .456 

Work, A Good Medicine 210 

Womb, Appendages of 77 

Womb, Arteries and Veins of . . 77 
Womb, Causes of Falling .... 250 

Womb, Derangement of 244 

Womb, Falling of the 249 

Womb, Membrane of 141 

Womb, Mucous Membrane of . . 76 

Womb, Pressure of 263 

Womb, and Five Months' Ovum . 163 
Womb, Section of, with Ovum . . 146 

Womb, Structure of 129 

Womb, The 74 



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